NC State Newsstand: Pack women’s tennis advances to fifth straight Sweet 16

WINSTON-SALEM, NC - JANUARY 24: Indoor Tennis Association logo marked tennis ball during a game between Kentucky and Penn State at Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Center on January 24, 2020 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. (Photo by Andy Mead/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

No. 14 NC State women’s tennis continued its dominance in the NCAA Tournament with a 4-0 win over Old Dominion in the second round Sunday afternoon at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center.

The Wolfpack advanced to its fifth straight NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 with its win over the Monarchs. NC State advanced to take on No. 2 Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., on Friday afternoon in a rematch of last year’s NCAA Tournament semifinal contest.

NC State won the doubles point behind Amelia Rajecki and Maddy Zampardo’s 6-3 win on court one and Sophie Abrams and Anna Zyryanova’s 6-0 victory on court two. Rajecki’s doubles win was her 101st at NC State and she is just the third Pack women’s tennis player to eclipse the century mark in the event.

The Pack continued to cruise through the singles matches, too. Rajecki, the No. 2 player in the country, won 6-2, 7-5 to tack on another point for the Pack. No. 71 Abigail Rencheli clinched the third point of the day on court two while Zyryanova won in straight sets as well to close the match out.

NC State lost just one set in the second round on court four, but it did not matter as the Pack clinched the match through the first three singles matches. The Wolfpack beat South Carolina State in the first round Saturday before it beat ODU the following day.

The Pack’s men’s team, also the No. 14 squad in the country, beat UNCW in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but it lost in a narrow 4-3 defeat to South Carolina in the second round Sunday in Raleigh.

Tweets of the day

NC State women’s tennis coach Simon Earnshaw reached a milestone victory over the weekend.

Former Wolfpack wide receiver Kelvin Harmon scored a touchdown with the UFL’s DC Defenders this weekend.

It was graduation weekend at NC State. Here’s a look at the student-athlete graduates.

Quote of the day

Akron transfer defensive back Kerry Martin Jr. will visit NC State this week as the Pack looks to bolster the secondary through the transfer portal. He is excited about spending some time in Raleigh.

“I’m definitely looking forward to getting down on the visit, chopping it up with those guys,” Martin said. “Something may happen. We may never know. We’ll see what happens. Hopefully, we get to that point.”