RALEIGH – NC State women’s tennis concludes its historic season after recording its deepest postseason run in program history.
Regular Season:
The team began its schedule with a preseason ranking of third in the country, setting a new mark for the highest preseason ranking in program history. Since Feb. 26, 2019, the national team ranking has remained within the top-16.
Throughout the regular season from January 21st to April 16th, the team participated in 24 matches. Just four of those resulted in losses, tying the number of regular season losses that have been recorded in the past two years (2021 and 2022).
Head coach, Simon Earnshaw, purposefuly slated a demanding schedule to prepare for the back half of the season. The Pack claimed 21 wins over ranked opponents, with 14 of those coming from the top 25 in the nation.
Bringing excitement early in the season, a win over No. 2 Ohio State recorded the new highest ranked win for the program, which ended up being broken again during the ACC Tournament.
In just the fourth game of the season, Coach Earnshaw earned his 900th career win with a 6-1 win over No. 15 Oklahoma and was honored at the game against No. 22 Tennessee on Feb. 5th.
In the same match against the Sooners, Alana Smith picked up her 100th career doubles wins. Later on in the season, on her senior day, she also earned her 100th career singles win, making her just the second player in program history to reach 100 wins in each category.
ACC Tournament:
The strength of the schedule from the regular season proved to support the team’s dominance as they powered through all three matches of the ACC Tournament. In those three games, only one point was dropped to opponents as they defeated No. 25 Florida State 4-0, No. 20 Georgia Tech 5-0, and No. 1 North Carolina 4-1.
In a local triangle thriller, NC State faced North Carolina in the championship match. A few weeks prior, the Tarheels secured a 7-0 authority over the Wolfpack but it was the red-and-white who walked away with their first-ever ACC Championship. For the first time in 24 years, the Tar Heel reign was broken in the series. Diana Shnaider also defeated the No. 1 player in the country (Fiona Crawley) on court one in straight sets.
NCAA Tournament:
To start off the tournament, the Pack hosted the first two rounds of the…
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