A week and a half after securing the ACC title, No. 8 NC State women’s continued its run of dominance with a 5-0 rout of Morgan State in the NCAA Championship First Round.
NC State (23-7) didn’t drop a single set and made quick work of the Bears (13-7) in an almost synchronized fashion. By the end of the match, with the Pack up 2-0, four players were a game away from sealing the first-round victory. Junior Jasmine Conway, No. 46 senior Anna Zyryanova and No. 49 junior Gabriella Broadfoot all played match points at the same time, with the Pack needing just two of them to win to clinch. All three won their respective points to send NC State to the next round, plus a bonus fifth point.
“The team is very excited every single match and we’re just going for the best,” Broadfoot said. “We know we can do really well if we try. Obviously, the first round is a little more nervy, but we just keep the excitement.”
It took a while for the match to commence as a nearly three hour weather delay kept everyone waiting. An option was given to play the match on NC State’s four indoor courts, but head coach Simon Earnshaw thought it was worth the wait to play on the six-court outdoor facility.
“If we play [inside], No. 5 and No. 6 don’t get a chance, and particularly for whichever team, that’s their last match of the season. It might be their last match ever,” Earnshaw said. “That sucks if you don’t even get the chance to get on the court. So that’s why we made such a big effort to put the match on outside. I mean, the grounds crew, that was three hours to dry those courts. That was a big effort today, especially with the double header for baseball.”
It was all hands on deck as Earnshaw and an army of grounds crew workers blew off the tennis grounds. But maybe a bigger challenge for the Wolfpack was staying grounded after such a thrilling ACC Tournament run.
“The thing is to not come out and overplay and let success change who you are. You’ve got to stay grounded and understand that,” Earnshaw said. “Okay, you won something, but nothing actually really changed overnight. And we’ve got to try and, you know, like I said, stay grounded and still go out there and work our way through things.”
The Pack stuck to the formula it has used to take down its foes over the last month with strong performances in the doubles point. At the top, NC State’s No. 3 nationally ranked duo who won the NCAA Doubles Championship in the fall, freshman Victoria Osuigwe and Broadfoot, secured their 11th win in 12 matches with a 6-1 domination of their Morgan State opponent.
“Our whole team is very close,” Broadfoot said. “Me and Tori are really close off the court as well. Understanding one another’s personalities and how we both play and work, trusting one another and knowing that where I lack, maybe she can pick up and vice versa. And just believing we’re going to win every single time.”
The pair’s on-court chemistry has been coming together for a long time, as they were teammates at IMG Academy before college.
The Pack’s other two doubles teams had solid outings, with sophomore Mia Slama and freshman Lavinia Tanasie clinching on Court 3, 6-2. On Court 2, No. 49 Zyryanova and Conway were a point away at 5-2, forty-love.
No. 66 Tanasie was the first to clinch a singles victory to put the Pack up 2-0, winning 6-3, 6-2.
NC State will face UCF (21-4) in a rematch of last year’s Raleigh Regional Second Round matchup. The Pack will host the Knights at 3 p.m. Saturday at the J. W. Isenhour Tennis Center with a chance to advance to the Third Round and host a Super Regional.
