This weekend the No. 44 women’s tennis team went 1-1. The team defeated No. 60 SMU, which was undefeated before meeting the Pack at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center, 6-1 on Saturday.
According to coach Hans Olsen, the Pack fought hard for the win.
“I was proud about how hard our girls were fighting all weekend,” Olsen said.
“The SMU team was good, and we fought hard to win the doubles. And we did. It was a really solid heart-felt win Saturday.”
Sunday portrayed a different picture as State fell 5-1 to No. 24 Arkansas. The match started off playing singles instead of the typical doubles matches, and doubles was not played due to Arkansas’s early flight out of Raleigh.
The Wolfpack’s record now is 4-2, with losses against No. 64 Minnesota and No. 24 Arkansas.
Senior Julia Roach was the only one to come out of Sunday with a win for the Pack. She split sets with Maryori Franco, losing the first 6-1.
“The first set [Franco] came out really strong,” Roach said. “I was making a lot of errors, and I knew she couldn’t keep that up.”
Roach turned the focus around and broke down Franco, coming back and winning 6-1, 7-5 in the second and third sets.
“I played solid,” Roach said. “Just knowing that she has a perfect set, I knew she would keep that up. Then she started to show some frustration, and that gave me the confidence to fight back.”
Roach’s long match was a turning point for the Pack. According to Daria Petrovic, it inspired to the team.
“Julia just fought back and stayed tough the whole match,” Petrovic said. “It was great to see our senior fight; we look up to her.”
Roach’s match also gave Neils Barringer and Catherine Grotz, who had the only remaining matches, the motivation to fight back, according to Olsen.
“Julia did a good job picking up the momentum for the last couple of matches,” Olsen said. “I think the girls responded to the moment well. They felt the energy and really wanting to get the momentum back, and I think they did.”
Once Roach’s match was over, only Barringer and Grotz remained on the court, both having lost their first sets.
Barringer lost the first set 6-3 and was down 4-1 in the second.
“Neils was down 4-1, fights back to be up 5-4,” Olsen said. “She would come up to the net, and her opponent would just hit winners.”
Barringer ended up lossing 6-3, 7-5 to Nanar Airapetian.
Grotz’s match was also close, as she lost the first set and was up 4-1 in the second, only to lose to Audrey Bordeleau 6-2, 6-4.
“The competition today was at a really high level,” Olsen said. “In the end we made [Arkansas] really earn every court, so I tip my hat off to them. They deserve the win.”
Arkansas’s No. 1 Aurelija Miseviciute defeated No. 79 Petrovic 6-1,6-1.
“It was a good experience. I got to see what I needed to work on,” Petrovic said. “She was a really good and consistent.”
Playing against a No. 1-ranked competitor helped Petrovic realize what areas of her game still need improvement.
“I need to work on consistency and my overall fitness so I can always play that one more ball that she played,” Petrovic said. “We had some really close games, but she came out stronger.”
According to Olsen, there are some improvements that the Pack needs to make.
“This weekend first serve percentage is really key,” Olsen said. “We did a good job in the singles against SMU with it, but today and the doubles against SMU, first serve percentage was low, lower than what we would like.”
Yet, reflecting back over the weekend, Olsen said he was pleased.
“As a team we were bringing our intensity on every court,” Olsen said. “I was pleased with our efforts.”
With ACC matches in two weeks, Petrovic said the team is ready.
“We are working harder on consistency, but basically I think in a couple of weeks we’ll be ready for the ACC,” she said.
The Wolfpack will play next on the road against South Carolina on Friday, returning home to take on Princeton Sunday.
No. 24 Arkansas 5, No. 44 N.C. State 1SINGLESNo. 1 – #1 Aurelija Miseviciute (Ark.) def. #79 Daria Petrovic (NCSU) -6-1, 6-1No. 2 – Anouk Tigu (Ark.) def. #97 Berkeley Brock (NCSU) – 6-4, 6-2No. 3 – Ela Kaluder (Ark.) def. Lenka Hojckova (NCSU) – 6-4, 6-2No. 4 – Julia Roach (NCSU) def. Maryori Franco (Ark.) – 1-6, 6-1, 7-5No. 5 – Nanar Airapetian (Ark.) def. Neils Barringer (NCSU) – 6-3, 7-5No. 6 – Audrey Bordeleau (Ark.) def. Catherine Grotz (NCSU) – 6-2, 6-4Order of finish: 1,3,2,4,5*,6* Clinched team match point
