NC State
Old Dominion
#31 Pack Shuts Out ODU
2/25/2011 12:00:00 AM | Women's Tennis
Feb. 25, 2011
RALEIGH, N.C. --- 31st-ranked NC State women’s tennis triumphed over Old Dominion 7-0 Friday at Isenhour Tennis Center, the Pack’s fourth shutout of the season.
"I liked the way the team kept their minds on the match all the way to the end today," said NC State head coach Hans Olsen. "To finish it with all seven points in our favor showed their mental toughness during some tough competition."
76th-ranked Sandhya Nagaraj bounced back from an upset in the Wolfpack’s (6-1) last match, pulling off two victories in dominating fashion. Nagaraj shut out Diana Ivanova 6-0, 6-0 after scoring an 8-1 doubles win as part of the nation’s seventh-best tandem, along side Sanaa Bhambri.
In singles play, 23rd-ranked Bhambri downed Joanna Dobrowolska 6-4, 6-2 in the evening’s longest match. The pair, both playing in their respective team’s number one positions, battled for nearly two hours to ultimately decide the fifth point of the match.
Tatiana Illova opened the day with an 8-4 doubles victory with playing partner Ashley Miller over ODU’s Alilueva/Belyakova combo. Later, Illova fought back from a deficit in the first set of her singles match before running away with the second set for a 6-4, 6-0 win.
NC State’s freshmen duo Joelle Kissell and Christy Sipes suffered an 8-3 loss in doubles play, but both responded with victories as singles to improve their spring records to a combined 14-0. Kissell dropped Melissa Esnal Olguin 6-0, 6-0, while Sipes bested Nika Khmolovska 6-3, 1-6, (10-8) in a third-set tiebreaker.
Chloe Smith captured her second win of the spring, topping Margarita Belyakova 6-2, 7-5, in the sixth position.
NC State opens conference play this Sunday, February 27, with a trip to Winston-Salem to take on the 59th-ranked Demon Deacons of Wake Forest beginning at 1 p.m. Full results and a recap will be posted to GoPack.com at the conclusion of play.
Doubles
#7 Nagaraj/Bhambri def. Dobrowolska/Esnal Olguin 8-1
Ivanova/Pires def. Kissell/Sipes 8-3
Illova/Miller def. Alilueva/Belyakova 8-4
Singles
#23 Sanaa Bhambri def. Joanna Dobrowolska 6-4, 6-2
#76 Sandhya Nagaraj def. Diana Ivanova 6-0, 6-0
Joelle Kissell def. Melissa Esnal Olguin 6-0, 6-0
Tatiana Illova def. Juliana Pires 6-4, 6-0
Christy Sipes def. Nika Khmolovska 6-3, 1-6, (10-8)
Chloe Smith def. Margarita Belyakova 6-2, 7-5
Order of finish: #1, #2, #3; #2, #3, #4, #1, #6, #5
