North Carolina State University Athletics
Miller and Daniel Into NCAA Doubles Semifinal
5/26/2022 6:02:00 PM | Women's Tennis
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Jaeda Daniel and Nell Miller continued their run through the NCAA Doubles Championships as the top-ranked and top-seeded Wolfpack duo won in Thursday's quarterfinals to punch their ticket to Friday's semifinal round.
Daniel and Miller picked up their 25th win as a duo, beating 37th-ranked Anna Ross and Holly Staff of Vanderbilt 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (10-6).
NC State women's tennis has been represented in the semifinals of the doubles draw each of the last two seasons, with Anna Rogers and Alana Smith's appearance in 2021 marking the deepest such run in team history. Daniel and Miller tied that program record with their performance on Thursday and will look to become the program's first duo to earn a spot in the national championship match.
Daniel and Miller took early control of the match and took advantage of some early first-set breaks to ultimately close out the first set. The Vanderbilt pair claimed a tight second frame to force the super tiebreaker, and Daniel and Miller surged their way to victory from there. After going down 4-2 in the breaker, the NC State duo won five points in a row to go up 7-4. In total, Daniel and Miller won eight of the final 10 points of the match to serve out the win and punch their ticket to the next round.
Daniel and Miller's next test comes against Pepeprdine's Janice Tjen and Savannah Broadus, who are ranked 42nd nationally. That semifinal match is set for Friday from the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Champaign.
Abigail Rencheli also saw action in Thursday's quarterfinals, but her amazing run through the singles draw came to an end. The Wolfpack sophomore fell to 26th-ranked Connie Ma (Stanford), with Ma advancing courtesy of a 6-2, 7-6 (6) win.
Down 5-4 in the second set, Rencheli fought off a match point, and both players held their final service games of the set before going into a tiebreaker. Rencheli battled in the breaker for the second set, but Ma closed it out in straight sets.
Rencheli ended her season with a 30-17 record in singles, with her 30 victories leading the team. Her upset over top-seeded Emma Navarro on Wednesday was the highest ranked win of her career, and she became the seventh player in program history and the first since 2019 to hit the 30-win mark in a single season.
Match times and any additional information will be communicated on the @PackWTennis Twitter account on Friday morning.
#GoPack | @PackWTennis
Players Mentioned
