No. 13 NC State women’s tennis took care of business on its first day of the 2024 ACC Championships, downing Clemson 4-0 to advance to the semifinal round. After winning its first conference title last year in Cary, North Carolina, the Wolfpack returned to Cary Tennis Park and took its first step towards a repeat.
Playing Clemson for the second match in a row and for the second time in five days after the Pack’s 6-1 win in South Carolina, NC State had no trouble in beating the Tigers for the third time this season.
While the match started in Cary, North Carolina, at Cary Tennis Park, a rain delay moved action indoors to Duke’s Sheffield Tennis Center in Durham for just the final 16 minutes of play. However, whether it was Cary or Durham, the Pack still dominated by ruthlessly taking three singles matches after a close doubles round.
The singles round wasn’t close but the early doubles round was hotly contested. After the sides split the first two matches — with the No. 10 pair of Amelia Rajecki and freshman Maddy Zampardo blanking their opponents 6-0 for NC State’s first win — the round came down to a tiebreaker on court two.
Falling into a hole to start the breaker, the No. 19 pair of senior Sophie Abrams and sophomore Anna Zyryanova climbed back by rattling off several straight points to take the early point.
“But I think we finished the breaker strong there,” said head coach Simon Earnshaw. “Potentially won seven of the last eight points in the breaker. And then just kind of continued it into singles. The only thing that we really didn’t have under control in singles was the rain.”
While the weather forced singles play 30 minutes down the road to Durham late in the round, the Wolfpack made impressive starts that it quickly followed up on at the Sheffield Tennis Center.
With players on nearly every court ready to finish off their matches thanks to the Pack winning five of six first sets, the courts fell one by one. First off was Zampardo, who extended NC State’s lead with a 6-2, 6-2 win on court five.
Next came a 6-2, 6-1 victory from No. 5 Rajecki to put the Pack in clinch position. To finish the 4-0 win off, Abrams also finished her opponent on court six in a 6-2, 6-1 decision.
After taking some surprising losses during the season, NC State is determined to come together, compete and make another run for the trophy.
“I think we’re all very happy that we won,” Zampardo said. “Of course, we don’t take anything for granted anymore because we had some iffy matches throughout the season. But yeah, I mean, I think we’re excited to defend the title.”
However, the Pack’s road to a repeat gets considerably more difficult from here. Of course, it’s only destiny for NC State to face off against its fiercest rival and the team it beat in the historic championship final just one year ago.
The Wolfpack is set to clash with UNC-Chapel Hill for the third time this season and the sixth time in the past two seasons.
“I think we’re both very familiar with one another,” Earnshaw said. “We have good memories of playing them on those courts last year. Hopefully that can kind of bring back some good memories and some level of comfort. I mean, the reality is, they’re a great opponent for and can bring the best out in us. So hopefully that continues tomorrow.”
With memories of a crushing doubles round, Diana Shnaider’s two-set win over then-No. 1 Fiona Crawley and its first victory against the Heels since 1999 swirling in their heads, Earnshaw and the Wolfpack’s dynamic against Carolina has been different ever since that win.
After being NC State’s kryptonite for 25 years, the red-and-white has now beaten UNC in three of the rivals’ last four matches. After two victories against Carolina this season, NC State has its sight set on the trifecta and a berth in the title fight.
“Coming into last year’s tournament, we hadn’t beaten them,” Earnshaw said. “It was the one team — in the time I’ve been at NC State — that we hadn’t beaten. And then now all of a sudden, we’ve won three of the last four. But I don’t think it changes anything. I think we know unless we have an absolute binder — which we kind of did in the final of the conference tournament last year — that it’s gonna be an absolute battle.”
Once again, it’s NC State and UNC. Another heated rendition of one of, if not the most exciting rivalry in college women’s tennis is set for another round.
In Cary — a year after its ACC title win over the Heels on the same courts — NC State will once again go toe to toe with Carolina. First serve is set for 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 20.
