Raleigh, N.C. – The No. 50 NC State women’s tennis team was able to defeat conference foe No. 32 Wake Forest, 5-2, on Sunday afternoon in the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center. The win for the Pack improves their record to 11-8 overall and 4-5 in the league. With the loss, the Deacons fall to 8-10 on the year and 4-5 in conference action.
The match started great for the Pack as they held a 1-0 team lead before the first ball was even hit. Wake Forest was forced to forfeit the No. 3 doubles match as well as the No. 6 singles match because they didn’t have enough players due to injuries.
The Wolfpack built upon their lead by collecting the doubles point. The Red and White won both of the doubles matches in easy fashion to make it a 2-0 lead in favor of NC State. Catherine Grotz and Lenka Hojckova played at No. 1 doubles today and defeated Sasha Kulikova and Emilee Malvehy, 8-2, to secure the doubles point. Berkeley Brock and Daria Petrovic also won their doubles match. They were able to defeat Aileen Davis and Christian Tara, 8-3, in the last doubles match of the afternoon.
The first match in singles to finish was at No. 1 singles were Daria Petrovic fell to Sasha Kulikova 6-2, 6-1. Berkeley Brock extended the Pack’s lead to 3-1 with a 6-3, 6-3 decision at No. 2 singles against Christian Tara.
Lenka Hojckova clinched the victory for the Pack with a three set win at No. 3 singles. After narrowly dropping the first set 6-7 (4), she fought back to easily win the last two sets, 6-1, 6-0. At No 4 singles, Julia Roach won in a three set thriller against Katarina Reveche. After dropping the first set 6-2, Roach came back to win the second set 6-3. After being down 5-2 in the third set, Roach tied the match at 6-6 and eventually won the tiebreaker 7-5.
The last match of the afternoon was at No. 5 singles. Catherine Grotz took command of the match at the beginning, winning the first set 6-3, but dropped the second set to Aileen Davis, 7-6 (5). The third set was a back-and-forth set in the 10 point tiebreaker. Neither opponent had more than a two point lead in the tiebreaker and Davis eventually won the tiebreaker 12-10 to win the match.
The Wolfpack will return to action next weekend as they host a pair of conference opponents in the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center. The Pack will take on Miami on Saturday at 12 pm and will face Florida State on Sunday at 1 pm. These matches coincide with the women’s tennis reunion that will take place next weekend.
No. 50 NC State 5, No. 32 Wake Forest 2
DOUBLES
1. Grotz/Hojckova (NCSU) def. Kulikova/Malvehy (WF) – 8-2
2. Petrovic/Brock (NCSU) def. Davis/Tara (WF) – 8-3
3. Barringer/Roach (NCSU) wins by forfeit
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
SINGLES
1. Sasha Kulikova (WF) def. Daria Petrovic (NCSU) – 6-2, 6-1
2. Berkeley Brock (NCSU) def. Christian Tara (WF) – 6-3, 6 -3
3. Lenka Hojckova (NCSU) def. Emilee Malvehy (WF) – 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-0
4. Julia Roach (NCSU) def. Katarina Reveche (WF) – 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5)
5. Aileen Davis (WF) def. Catherine Grotz (NCSU) – 3-6, 7-6 (5), 1-0 (10)
6. Neils Barringer (NCSU) wins by forfeit
Order of finish: 6, 1, 2, 3*, 4, 5
Courtesy: Karl DeBlaker
