NC State
University of California
No. 22 Frantova/Rogers Fall in Second Round of NCAA Doubles Championship
5/26/2017 6:19:00 PM | Women's Tennis
Wolfpack duo concludes historic season
ATHENS, Ga. — After a historic run at the NCAA Doubles Championship, No. 22 Martina Frantova and Anna Roger's season was concluded after falling to No. 34 Maya Jansen and Maegan Manasse in the Round of 16. The California duo clinched a spot in the Elite Eight with a 6-4, 7-6(8-6) victory Friday afternoon at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.
Despite the heartbreaker, Frantova and Rogers have etched themselves into the program's record book as the greatest doubles tandem in Wolfpack history. The pair is not only unrivaled in doubles wins, but also became the first to advance beyond the first round of the NCAA Doubles Championship.
"It didn't go our way today, but we had an incredible run and I can only be proud of what we have accomplished this season," said Martina Frantova. "I am so proud of Anna. She has had an amazing freshman year and it was an honor to have her as my doubles partner my last season at NC State."
Match Recap
The Bears jumped out to an early lead in set one, finding themselves with a 4-1 advantage. Frantova and Rogers rallied back to tie the match up at 4-4, but the California duo battled through the next two games to win the first set, 6-4.
In set two, the Wolfpack's took an early 4-1 lead, but this time Cal battled back to tie the match at 4-4. Both teams held serves, forcing ties at 5-5 and 6-6 before sending the set into a tiebreaker. There, Jansen and Manasse found a 4-2 lead, but NC State fought back to force a tie at 6-6. California ultimately won the tiebreaker by a 8-6 decision to end the match with a final score of 6-4, 7-6 (8-6).
The loss was the duo's first since February.
Simon Says
"Coming in we knew that this would be a very different match to yesterday," said head coach Simon Earnshaw. "Manasse's serve was going to provide a unique challenge and obviously there was a huge reward for the winners. I wouldn't say that this was our best played match of the season, but often in these type of situations that's not the point, it's about finding a way to adapt and getting through. Cal managed that better than us. They played more aggressively on the big points and it paid off. The two of them are massively experienced in matches like this and clearly more comfortable which ended up being the decisive factor. It's an unfortunate way to conclude our season after such an unprecedented run for Anna and Martina, their consistency this spring has been incredible. For a doubles team to have the record they had, playing at the top in the ACC and with our schedule is amazing especially given the format we play. I couldn't be prouder of what they accomplished and the mark they have set this spring, it's going to be how we measure every other doubles team for many years to come.
"Quite simply put, Anna put together the best doubles season in program history by a wide margin. To do that as a freshman, coupled with her singles play is incredibly exciting and hopefully has just been a glimpse of what's to come.
"Martina has meant a massive amount to our program the past two years. In some ways, it's frustrating that we only got her for two years; but at the same time, Gina and I are incredibly thankful for everything she has done, stepping in and holding down the top spot in both singles and doubles during that time. For her to have been All-ACC both years, be ranked top 30 in singles, top 15 in doubles, and be only the 2nd player in program history to qualify for both the NCAA Singles and Doubles tournament sends a message for exactly what we expect from someone leading the line for our program. Now it's time for someone to step-up into this role and match this standard moving forward. Almost no one goes out on their own terms, and I think right now the sentiment is if we could have had just one more match for Martina, but in time upon reflection what's she accomplished, with her being the biggest difference maker during the program's re-emergence will be her legacy. I can't speak more highly of the contribution she has made and those are some awfully big shoes we need to fill in coming seasons!"
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