North Carolina State University Athletics
Day Three - Friday, May 12, 2006
5/13/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
May 13, 2006
Fearless.
That is the one word that would describe everything we did today - the day of our first NCAA match against William & Mary. And the word "fearless" can be showed through each member of the team.
Lauren: She woke up, faint and lightheaded, and had to stay behind with me in the hotel until she felt better. After feeling up to going to the match, she rejoined the team because she knew she could not miss out on this historical moment * being the second time in the school's history of making it to the NCAA tournament, and possibly the first school win in the NCAA's.
Alejandra/Barbara: They felt that their doubles was the best fought 8-game pro set of the season. And even though they fell short, the match was filled with exciting points one after the other.
Agustina/Arielle: They kept the team spirit alive as they supported the team throughout the whole match.
Shona: Winning her doubles, she fought hard in singles and even though she was the runner-up, she never lost faith in the team.
Elin/Julia: They both found the artist's "chi" set in as they felt extra enthused for this match * both being victorious in doubles and singles. Elin and Julia later treated themselves to more painting as well as some desert. (These past two days, painting has been involved in our daily events because we have found it to be a relaxing way to spend our time and to keep our mind off the matches.)
Nandita: She played hard in doubles (won) and settled down for a 2-out-of-3 singles match. She lost the first set, won the second, and withstood 3 hours 20 minutes of hustling and aggressive forehands to be the final deciding match. Nearly a dozen fist pumps later, the team ran towards her with open arms.
Neils: Trying something new, she had her first bite of salmon tonight for dinner. We were happy for this accomplishment.
Coach Olsen/Mait: They handled the teams setback of having two members of the team staying behind well and kept their motivation and bars high for the outcome for today.
Allison: As for me, it was hard to see the team leaving without Lauren and I, but once we arrived at the match, I was ready to be there and cheer for the rest of the team.
Overall, I really enjoyed today. The victory. The passion. The "family." And the best moment of all was when the whole team came together for a group hug we yelled "Pack," and knew we were coming back tomorrow to do it all again.
The entire outcome was No. 37 Wolfpack 4 * No. 24 Tribe 3. We had won the doubles point. When singles progressed we found ourselves at the overall team score of Wolfpack 3 * Tribes 3. It came down to Nandita's singles match where she won 5-7, 6-3, 6-3.
A.B.
