CARY, N.C. — It’s rare you see the reigning NCAA singles and doubles champions facing off in a dual match, no less, playing for two teams 25 miles apart. But for No. 9 NC State women’s tennis and No. 3 North Carolina, high-level tennis is to be expected. Friday night was no exception.
After picking up the doubles point and getting a few early breaks, NC State (5-1) led North Carolina (6-0) but let the Heels find their stride — leading to a dogfight until the bitter end. With the best-of-seven duel tied 3-3, and five of six singles courts empty, the match rested in the hands of both teams’ ace — 2025 NCAA doubles champion junior Gabriella Broadfoot for the Wolfpack and 2025 NCAA singles champion Reese Brantmeier for the Heels. Showing her experience and poise, No. 1 Brantmeier held off No. 29 Broadfoot to win 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 and hoist the Heels past the Pack.
“Once we hit about 8 o’clock, it just started to be heavy going, didn’t it?” said head coach Simon Earnshaw. “We weren’t able to be quite as aggressive and get as much court position. We weren’t moving forward. We were not knocking them backwards quite as much through that period, and some of the matches started to turn a little bit.”
Taking on the top singles player in the country, Broadfoot gave a great challenge, and at one point looked to have secured enough momentum to make a great mark on both her own singles resume and NC State’s team resume. But late in the match, Brantmeier simply found another gear. Still, Broadfoot showed she can go toe-to-toe with the best of ‘em.
“You’ve got to realize this time two years ago, she wasn’t even in our lineup,” Earnshaw said. “She wasn’t even a top-six player. And then she moved from [No.] 4 to [No.] 3 when Anya got injured last year, and now all the way to [No.] 1. That’s a long way, in basically 12 months.”
It wasn’t all bad for Broadfoot. Alongside doubles partner freshman Victoria Osuigwe, that No. 4-ranked pairing took down the No. 11-ranked pairing of Brantmeier and Alanis Hamilton to help NC State secure the doubles point. More consequentially, No. 40-ranked pairing senior Anna Zyryanova and junior Jasmine Conway knocked off No. 3 pairing Ange Oby Kajuru and Susanna Maltby 6-3 to put the Pack over the edge.
“I was actually pleasantly surprised by our doubles,” Earnshaw said. “I feel like it’s not something we’ve worked on as much as we would normally … UNC has probably only lost four doubles points over the last season and a half and three of them were against us.”
The two other points earned by NC State came at the hands of No. 38 freshman Lavinia Tanasie, who took down No. 69 Alanis Hamilton, and 2025 No. 2 recruit Osuigwe, who upset No. 51 Theadora Rabman, both doing so in straight sets.
Faltering for the Pack was No. 31 sophomore Mia Slama to No. 23 Oby Kajuru on Court 2. No. 60 Zyryanova dropped her match with No. 35 Tatum Evans in three sets on Court 3. Junior Jasmine Conway fell on Court 6 versus the TikTok-recognizable Anna Frey in straight sets. For Slama and Zyryanova, their levels were high early on, but before too long, they lost their grip.
“We’re improving in match fitness, but we need a little bit more match fitness in places,” Earnshaw said. “That can be the case in January. These matches help with that, as long as they don’t beat you up.”
With just a few more indoor events on the schedule, the Pack next heads to the ITA Indoor National Championships after qualifying on Tuesday with its win versus Florida. The Wolfpack will compete in Chicago against 15 other top-tier teams for a trophy Feb. 6-10.
