After competing in the last match of her college career, senior Julia Roach appeared cheerful, but appearances can be deceiving. No. 34 N.C. State had just lost to William & Mary in the opening round of the women’s NCAA tennis tournament. Roach admitted she felt a mixture of sorrow and regret.
“It’s sad,” Roach said. “We were definitely hoping we could advance further in this tournament. It’s hard to believe it’s all over.”
State dropped the doubles point after a hard-fought contest in which the No. 3 pairing of Roach and Neils Barringer tied the score at one only to see the final doubles team of Berkeley Brock and Daria Petrovic fall, 9-7. William & Mary went on to win the first three singles matches decisively to clinch the victory.
“I thought William & Mary came up with some first serves on some key points in the singles, and that really made a big difference,” coach Hans Olsen said.
Brock, a sophomore, said the matches were much closer than the final score would suggest.
“I think we definitely had a good chance to win in all of the matches,” Brock said. “Everyone played and battled very well. I’m not happy that we lost, but I’m pretty satisfied with the way everyone competed.”
Although the Tribe came in with a higher national ranking and was riding a nine-match winning streak, Brock said the Pack was not intimidated.
“We kind of thought that we didn’t have anything to lose, because they were ranked higher than us and were favored to win,” Brock said. “But we never really had any doubt in ourselves.”
Olsen said his team has embraced this mentality recently. This season, the Pack has defeated several highly-ranked opponents and outperformed most expectations. The team went 12-9 in the regular season and took down No. 19 Florida State on April 13.
“The girls have just had a great frame of mind and a level of confidence, and it’s been there for the past month, I would say,” Olsen said.
However, that mental toughness did not translate into post season success. Although it is too soon to predict the team’s prospects for next season, the core of the team will remain largely intact as Roach is the only departing senior. Olsen says State is well on its way to becoming a “nationally-recognized team”.
“This is a young team with a tremendous amount of NCAA experience,” Olsen said. “They’re really getting seasoned and playing deep into the year, and I think it’s those experiences that are going to help us get done what we want to accomplish.”
