This rivalry weekend, it’s all hands on deck for No. 7 NC State women’s tennis. With the Wolfpack set to square off against its fiercest rivals, No. 1 UNC-Chapel Hill and No. 6 Duke, there are major postseason implications and bragging rights on the line.
However, this rivalry is a bit different from other NC State sports teams with their Triangle rivals. The Pack has had success across the board in its past several seasons under head coach Simon Earnshaw, all except for beating its rivals, especially UNC.
In fact, NC State has only beaten the perennially excellent Tar Heels once in program history, nearly a quarter of a century ago in 1999.
“I always remember when Roger Federer was really at the top of his game … people would ask Andy Roddick about the rivalry between him and [Federer],” Earnshaw said. “He said: ‘I’ll tell you about it once I beat him.’ We haven’t quite done that yet, although we’re getting closer.”
Both Roddick and Earnshaw have a point — it’s not a rivalry until you beat them.
For Earnshaw and the Pack, if a national championship title is the team’s crowning achievement, beating UNC is the next best thing. The Wolfpack has come close to it, suffering multiple 4-3 losses to the Heels in the last 10 years, but until NC State finishes the job, it’ll stay in the shadow of the best women’s tennis program in the country.
“We’re running out of firsts that we need to achieve,” Earnshaw said. “But this is definitely one of them, that’s for sure.”
The No. 1 Heels currently sit at an undefeated 24-0 on the season and are a full 30 points ahead of the No. 7 Wolfpack in ITA’s rankings. With the best squad in the nation comes some of the best players in the nation, including the country’s No. 1 singles player, Fiona Crawley.
However, no matter how talented the UNC or Duke rosters may be, if Earnshaw and his team aren’t ready for the challenge now, they won’t ever be.
“I think that this is easy to get ready for — this is far easier than many of our other matches,” Earnshaw said. “I mean at this point in the season, if we’re not ready, then what the heck are we doing?”
Graduate student Alana Smith, the No. 13 singles player in the nation, seems to be on the same page as her coach. To her, these matches are no different than the next, even if these are the ones she’s had circled on her calendar for months.
“I go into every match the same: I’m not going to over-excite myself on that date when we’re playing,” Smith said. “I think everyone has to take the same approach to every match.”
While UNC is a behemoth all on its own, the Pack’s match against the Tar Heels is only the start of its toughest stretch of matches in 2023. The No. 6 Blue Devils, No. 11 Texas and No. 9 Virginia are all on the horizon for the Wolfpack, making the team’s final matches of the season the most important ones yet. While the Pack has shown it can beat those teams in the past, it’s still chasing the white whale that is UNC.
“We need to convert in this area — making deep runs into the postseason and winning some titles at some point,” Earnshaw said. “[Winning big matches] is probably going to be a stepping stone towards making that a reality, so we have got to make it happen.”
For now, though, NC State is taking it one match at a time, putting all its focus on what would be a historic win on Thursday, April 6 against the Tar Heels. For Smith, and the rest of the team for that matter, a win over UNC would likely be the program’s most memorable victory in recent memory. NC State has the ability to conquer Carolina but will need every part of its lineup to play at a near-perfect level to beat the Heels for the first time in 24 years.
“It’s a rivalry, but it’s not a real rivalry until you beat them,” Smith said. “Yes, we beat Duke, but that was one time. Definitely getting a win against UNC would be a highlight of my career.”
It all starts at 5 p.m. at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in Chapel Hill where the red-and-white has a chance to upset the No. 1 team in the nation.
