North Carolina State University Athletics
Six Wolfpack Women’s Tennis Players Featured in Preseason National Rankings
9/7/2021 1:18:00 PM | Women's Tennis
TEMPE, Ariz. – A total of six Wolfpack women's tennis players have been featured in the preseason release of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Rankings, as the organization released their first set of standings for 2021-22 on Tuesday.
Five women are ranked in the national top 125 in singles, and two NC State duos are featured in the national top 30 in doubles.
National Singles Rankings:
#23 - Alana Smith
#48 Abigail Rencheli
#49 Sophie Abrams
#73 Sara Nayar
#111 Jaeda Daniel
National Doubles Rankings:
#18 Abigail Rencheli/Amelia Rajecki
#27 Jaeda Daniel/Alana Smith
Leading the way at 23rd nationally, Smith is coming off a 2021 campaign during which she was a 2021 Second Team All-ACC honoree and qualified for the NCAA Singles Championships for the first time in her career. The senior went 18-9 in singles action last season with nine victories against nationally-ranked foes.
Rencheli's No. 48 ranking is a personal best for the sophomore. She earned the first singles ranking of her career on April 14 and reached as high as No. 70 at the end of the campaign. Rencheli went 16-5 overall in singles with a 13-4 mark in dual matches.
Abrams (No. 49) and Nayar (No. 73) both earned top 100 rankings prior to their first seasons with the Wolfpack. Abrams' number marked a personal best, beating her previous mark of No. 70. She was most recently named AAC Freshman of the Year and earned unanimous All-Conference Team recognition at Memphis before transferring to NC State.
Nayar, also a transfer coming from Colorado, narrowly missed a career-best singles ranking. While with the Buffs, she was the singles runner-up at the 2019 ITA Mountain Regional Championship and a doubles quarterfinalist at the 2019 ITA All-American Championships.
Daniel rounded out the singles rankings by checking in at No. 111. She earned 17 singles wins during the 2021 season, with eight of those coming against conference opponents to rank second on the team in that category.
After playing the majority of the season together in 2021, Rencheli and Rajecki surged into the national top 20 in doubles for a big-time career best mark. The duo checked in at No. 70 in the 2021 season-ending rankings after going 13-3 as a duo. Rencheli and Rajecki lost just one time in league play as rookies in one of the best conferences in the nation and defeated two nationally-ranked opponents last year.
Daniel and Smith join them in the top 30 at No. 27. Despite not having played together in official competition, both players were named 2021 All-Americans in doubles after the NCAA Championships. Smith went on a program-best run to the national semifinals, and Daniel ended her doubles season in the Round of 16 after earning a top-eight seed into the draw.
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