NC State
VCU
NC State Ready for NCAA Championships First-Round Matchup with VCU
5/6/2021 8:42:00 AM | Women's Tennis
SCORES | STREAM | TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
RALEIGH – The sixth-ranked NC State women's tennis team (16-5) will kick off 2021 NCAA Championships action at home on Friday afternoon as it hosts VCU (14-9) in the first round of the team tournament. The match is set to start not before 3 p.m. from the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center in Raleigh.
A win over the Rams on Friday would advance the Wolfpack to the second round, where it would face the winner of the match between South Carolina and Iowa State at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
ATTENDANCE INFO:
Due to capacity guidelines from the NCAA and the state of North Carolina, seating in the stadium area is limited to family members and guests of participating teams only. The general public is free to view the matches from the grass hill outside the facility. Should any matches be moved indoors, they will be closed to the public.
WOLFPACK IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT:
The 2021 NCAA Championships berth marks NC State's 11th overall appearance and its fifth season in a row qualifying for the event under the leadership of head coach Simon Earnshaw. That streak continues to stand as a program best.
NC State has reached the second round of the NCAA Championships four times in team history. The program punched a ticket to its first-ever Sweet 16 in 2019. That season also marked the team's first time hosting the first two rounds of the national tournament, putting the Pack's home NCAA Championships record at 2-0 entering the 2021 edition of the event.
ABOUT THE PACK:
NC State continues postseason action having been ranked in the national top 10 in each of the last five polls. The team reached a season-best No. 4 in the middle of April and has been featured in the top 15 every week since Feb. 26, 2019.
In total, the Wolfpack defeated seven nationally-ranked opponents on its way to posting a 16-5 record. Three members of the team (Anna Rogers, Alana Smith, Adriana Reami) were recognized as 2021 All-ACC honorees following the conference tournament, marking the most for the program in a single season.
NC State won nine of its final 10 matches of the regular season on its way to finishing third in the ACC standings. That included a seven-game winning streak that included six-straight ACC victories from March 12 through April 1. In the midst of that streak, the Pack most notably earned big 4-3 road wins at No. 29 Miami and No. 13 Duke.
MAKING HISTORY
For the first time in program history, NC State will have multiple singles players and multiple doubles pairs in the national draws for the NCAA Women's Tennis Singles and Doubles Championships. Anna Rogers and Alana Smith earned at-large bids to compete in the 64-player singles draw, and the pair will also compete together in the doubles draw along with Adriana Reami and Jaeda Daniel.
Rogers is the No. 6 overall seed in the singles draw, and Daniel and Reami are a top-eight seed in doubles. Both of the seedings automatically garner those players status as All-Americans.
SCOUTING VCU:
VCU makes its third NCAA Championships appearance in a row after winning the Atlantic 10 championships match to earn an automatic bid. The Rams have put together a 14-9 overall record in 2021, and they have yet to defeat a nationally-ranked opponent in three tries so far this season.
Noumea Witmus and Paola Delgado make up the nation's No. 73 doubles pair, and Delgado is also ranked No. 102 in singles.
Friday will be the 20th all-time meeting between the Wolfpack and the Rams. VCU owns the narrow 10-9 advantage in the series, but NC State has won the last two meetings. The Wolfpack also opened tournament action against the Rams in 2019, taking that match by a 4-1 score in Raleigh.
UP NEXT:
The teams that advance to the Sweet 16 will meet at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, Fla., to finish out the tournament beginning on May 16. The singles and doubles championships will also be played in Lake Nona from May 23-28 following the conclusion of team competition.
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Players Mentioned
