Jan. 31, 2013

RALEIGH, N.C. - North Carolina State swept singles action, four in straight-set fashion, and used a deciding No. 3 doubles win to jump out to an early lead before rolling to a 7-0 non-conference victory over East Carolina Thursday afternoon at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center.

NC State (1-0) captured the doubles point to open play by virtue of 8-2 and 8-6 victories in the No. 2 and No. 3 positions, respectively. After East Carolina's tandem of Nicole LaDuca and Neena Wanko evened the pairs ledger with an 8-6 win over Tatiana Illova and Joelle Kissell in a No. 1 battle, the Wolfpack secured an early 1-0 match lead when Sophie Nelson and Chloe Smith downed Dana Gray and Melis Tanik at No. 3.

The Wolfpack pushed their lead to 4-0 and clinched the match with consecutive two-set triumphs at the No. 1, No. 4 and No. 5 singles positions.

Wanko and Tanik turned in the Pirates' top singles effort, forcing tie-breakers in the second and third slots. Wanko opened her match against Christy Snipes with a win in the first set before falling 4-6, 7-5 and 1-0 (10-6) at No. 2, while Tanik enjoyed similar early success before Nicole Martinez rallied back for a 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (12-10) victory at No. 3.

East Carolina (1-1) will return to action Wednesday, Feb. 6 when it hosts UNC Asheville at the ECU Tennis Complex beginning at 1 p.m.

NC STATE 7, EAST CAROLINA 0
Singles Play
No. 1 - No. 33 Joelle Kissell (NCSU) def. Yilian Zhang (ECU) 6-0, 6-0
No. 2 - Christy Sipes (NCSU) def. Neena Wanko (ECU) 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (10-6)
No. 3 - Nicole Martinez (NCSU) def. Melis Tanik (ECU) 4-6, 7-5, 1-0 (12-10)
No. 4 - Tatiana Illova (NCSU) def. Nicole LaDuca (ECU) 6-1, 7-5
No. 5 - Elisha Hande (NCSU) def. Danielle Terpko (ECU) 6-0, 6-0
No. 6 - Chloe Smith (NCSU) def. Dana Gray (ECU) 6-2, 6-1
Doubles Play
No. 1 - LaDuca/Wanko (ECU) def. Illova/Kissell (NCSU) 8-6
No. 2 - Hande/Martinez (NCSU) def. Terpko/Zhang (ECU) 8-2
No. 3 - Sophie Nelson/Smith (NCSU) def. Gray/Tanik (ECU) 8-6
Team Records: East Carolina 1-1, NC State 1-0