The women’s tennis team came out strong and took the point for doubles against No. 64 Minnesota on Sunday, but only managed to win one singles match in a marathon competition that the Gophers won 5-2 against No. 37 N.C. State.
“This match was definitely the toughest match of the season,” sophomore Daria Petrovic said.
All the matches were close throughout the day, many splitting set, yet the Pack couldn’t pull out the win.
“Minnesota definitely came out fighting,” Petrovic said. “We needed to win the important points. And there were a lot of close calls, close points — all matches were really close.”
Doubles went well for the Pack, as it won at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots.
“Our girls did really well in doubles, and Minnesota is a really strong doubles team, strong at the net, but our girls were stronger,” coach Hans Olsen said. “They just did a great job with doubles today.”
The momentum of the match quickly shifted as the singles play began.
“I tried to stay focused and active,” Petrovic said. “But I wasn’t really feeling my shots at all, but I tried to stay in it.”
Petrovic lost her match to Alessandra Ferrazzi in straight sets, and so did many of the other women.
“The score doesn’t really show it,” Petrovic said. “They were all really close matches. They all could have gone either way.”
Close calls consumed the match, and some referees’ calls upset freshman Catherine Grotz.
“It was harder to stay focused in my second set,” Grotz said. “Because the referee was a little unfair, but I tried to stay calm.”
According to some on the team, Grotz had the hardest match of the day from the get-go. During the first game of her match, Minnesota’s Danielle Mousseau got upset with the way Grotz was calling out the score, and the tension continued throughout the entire match.
“It’s hard to keep your focus on your game when something like this happens so early in the match,” Grotz said. “Because your focus is on the tension, not on the tennis.”
Grotz ended up splitting sets with Mousseau and came back with the only singles win for the Wolfpack.
“It was my toughest match mentally,” Grotz said.
Freshman Lenka Hojckova also had a tough match, splitting sets with Lindsay Risebrough and dealing with pain during her serves, losing 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.
“Lenka did a good job working her way through it,” Olsen said. “I told her that we would deal with it when the match was over.”
Hojckova also had some issues with line calls, which was a big controversy in the middle of the match.
“I thought our girls handled [the issues with the referees] well,” Olsen said. “I think these things just come up in close matches. Our girls addressed it, and then they moved on.”
Overall, Olsen said Minnesota deserved to win.
“I think they played really well,” Olsen said. “They went for their shots and just didn’t make many errors and won the big points.”
Moving on from the women’s first loss of the season, Grotz said the team has to try to stay focused on tennis.
“We need to be more focused on things that we can control; we don’t have any control over the referees or the other girls,” Grotz said. “We just have to move on.”
NO. 64 MINNESOTA 5, NO. 37 N.C. STATE 2DOUBLESNo. 1 – Brock/Petrovic (NCSU) def. Chiarelli/Risebrough (Minn.) – 8-5No. 2 – Hojckova/Roach (NCSU) def. Ferrazzi/Seaton (Minn.) – 8-4No. 3 – Koprivica/Mousseau (Minn.) def. Bleakley/Grotz (NCSU) – 8-4Order of finish: 2, 1, 3
SINGLESNo. 1 – Alessandra Ferrazzi (Minn.) def. #79 Daria Petrovic (NCSU) – 6-4, 6-3No. 2 – Karina Chiarelli (Minn.) def. #97 Berkeley Brock (NCSU) – 7-6 (7-2), 6-4No. 3 – Lindsay Risebrough (Minn.) def. Lenka Hojckova (NCSU) – 6-4, 5-7, 6-3No. 4 – Tijana Koprivica (Minn.) def. Julia Roach (NCSU) – 7-5, 6-4No. 5 – Catherine Grotz (NCSU) Danielle Mousseau (Minn.) – 6-3, 4-6, 6-1No. 6 – Neils Barringer (NCSU) Alex Seaton (Minn.)Order of finish: 1, 2, 4, 3*, 5, 6* Clinched team match pointSource: N.C. State Athletics
