NC State women's tennis doubles pair takes national title
The ascension of the NC State women’s tennis program continues to impress. A year after making a Final Four, the first national champions in NC State women’s tennis history was awarded Saturday afternoon in Champaign, Ill.
Seniors Jaeda Daniel and Nell Miller won the NCAA Doubles Championship, defeating Daevenia Achong and Eden Richardson of Miami in straight sets, 6-2 and 7-5.
Daniel and Miller for NC State were the top seed in the NCAA Championships. The pair went 27-5 when teamed together this season.
Daniel arrived at NC State after transferring from Auburn, and in three seasons in Raleigh she concluded her Wolfpack career ranked ninth in NC State women’s tennis singles victories (62) and tied for fifth in doubles wins (79).
In addition to winning the national title in doubles, Daniel was an All-American this year in singles. Her teammate, sophomore Abigail Rencheli, was also an All-American after reaching the quarterfinals of the singles championship. Along the way, Rencheli defeated top-seeded and defending national champion Emma Navarro from Virginia.
Miller made her one season at NC State count. She transferred in the offseason from Texas Tech, where she had 45 singles victories and 48 doubles wins over three years.
In the NCAA Doubles Championship match, Daniel and Miller broke their counterparts serve on the opening game. A second break later provided the cushion in a 6-2 opening set win.
The second set saw the duos trade three consecutive breaks at one point. Another break by Daniel and Miller gave them a 6-5 lead. Miller served out the championship.
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Daniel and Miller also helped NC State reach the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament this year, where the Wolfpack lost 4-3 to Duke in a showdown that came down to the final singles match.
NC State women’s tennis set a school record in 2022 with 26 victories, and the Wolfpack’s No. 6 ranking in the final Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Division I Team Rankings tied for the school’s best finish. NC State went 10-3 in a conference that had four of the Elite Eight participants.
The Rise Of NC State Women’s Tennis
Prior to head coach Simon Earnshaw’s arrival before the 2015 season, NC State women’s tennis had gone 16 years without a winning conference record, going 35-125 in that span in the league.
Earnshaw brought the Pack back-to-back .500 records in college women’s tennis powerhouse conference in 2017 and 2018. Then the breakthrough came in 2019 when NC State went 11-3 in the conference and made the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament.
NC State was 18-3 overall and 5-1 in the conference when COVID-19 canceled the remainder of the 2020 campaign. In 2021, NC State went 10-3 in the league and made the Final Four.
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