Freshman Amanda Rebol is a player to watch in the NC State women’s tennis seasons this year.
Before beginning at NC State, Rebol was ranked No. 7 in Georgia and No. 28 in the Southeast region. Rebol also ranked No. 59 in the national polls.
The Georgia native was a semifinalist in three 2015 competitions: Azusa Pacific ITA collegiate event, La Verne ITA collegiate event and the U.S. Open Southern Sectional Qualifying Tournament.
“I left my family at home, but now I have my NC State family,” Rebol said. “We have a really great athletic community here.”
Rebol defeated her Virginia Tech singles opponent Emily Pence in the first tournament of the season, the Wolfpack Invitational. Rebol placed third in singles with her win over Katarina Weymouth from Furmanat the Duke Invitational.
“I think it was a great indicator for the girls who played, of what’s possible and the reality of what our expectation level is relative to the team goals,” head coach Simon Earnshaw said. “We have a very young team, and this event [the Duke Invitational] was a great catalyst to help speed up the development process, which is exactly what we needed.”
Rebol has also seen doubles competition success in the fall season, pairing with classmates Barbara Mancera and Claudia Wiktorin on separate occasions.
Rebol and Mancera were named overall winners in doubles play in the Wolfpack Invitational finishing with a 2-1 record.
“The most memorable moment so far was when Barbara and I won at the Wolfpack Invitational,” Rebol said. “That’s been the highlight of the fall season.”
Rebol and Wiktorin defeated the UConn doubles pair Srna Stosljevic and Jacquelyn Fitz-Randolph and the UNC-Wilmington duo of Annika Sillanpaa and Laura Gomez in the Wake Forest Invitational.
In that same tournament, Rebol defeated Maria Storozheva of Eastern Carolina University in the singles competition.
“I wouldn’t say I prefer one over the other,” Rebol said in reference to singles and doubles competition. “It’s awesome having someone else on the court with you, but it’s also nice to be able to make decisions for yourself.”
The Cumming, Georgia, native certainly made her own choices when it came to choosing schools and choosing to get into tennis.
Rebol’s father played for the men’s tennis team at both West Virginia and Western Kentucky. Her mom began working at a tennis center shortly before Rebol decided to go to tennis academy.
“I was originally a big soccer player,” Rebol said. “Ever since seventh grade, I did online schooling at my tennis academy up until I got to college. My parents played but they never pushed me. If I could go back, I wouldn’t change it, that’s for sure. I don’t think I’d be where I am today if I changed it.”
Rebol echoes this sentiment in her remark about choosing NC State.
“I was going to go as far away from home as possible, specifically California,” Rebol said. “I changed a lot and decided I wanted to be a lot closer to home. I’m so happy that I am because my mom, grandma, dad and sister have all been out to one of my games. My brother is coming next week, so it’s awesome.”
Rebol’s family will have plenty of opportunity to see her play during the course of the next four years. NC State will be losing two senior members after this season, Taylor Zaytoun and Joanna Nalborska. Earnshaw will no doubt look to his four freshmen to learn from the upperclassmen.
“Overall, what I’m looking forward to in my NC State career is growth on and off the court,” Rebol said. “There are four freshmen on the team, so we’re young. It’ll be exciting to see us grow, and we have high expectations and goals for the spring season.”
Fall season isn’t finished yet. Rebol and her teammates will travel to Chapel Hill in a week to compete in the ITA Carolina Regional.
