Daria Panova
The Terrapins tennis team entered the weekend ranked 13th in the ACC with a chance to improve its seed entering Thursday’s conference tournament in Cary, N.C.
The Terps fell, 5-2, to No. 51 Boston College on Saturday but redeemed themselves yesterday by earning a 4-3 victory in a pivotal match against No. 70 N.C. State to earn the 12th seed in the ACC tournament and enter the postseason as winners of four of seven matches.
“It’s a huge win, especially coming from yesterday losing,” freshman Olivia Gaudreault said. “It’s a great start to our week in the ACC [tournament].”
The Terps (9-12, 4-10 ACC) came out flat against the Eagles (13-8, 5-6) . They lost the doubles point and Boston College overwhelmed them in singles, which prompted coach Daria Panova to question the team’s motivation.
Against the Wolfpack (8-13, 2-12), though, coaches noticed the Terps playing with more energy.
“We weren’t ready mentally [Saturday]. We weren’t as fired up as [we were] today,” assistant coach Gina Suarez-Malaguti said. “Today, everybody just really clawed it out. For the girls I was coaching, what I saw and was hearing was just so much feistiness. [Saturday] was kind of a little flat.”
After the Terps and Wolfpack split the first two doubles matches, the doubles point came down to the pairing of freshman Kristina Hovsepyan and sophomore Olga Gaistruk.
The pair rallied from an early 3-0 deficit to bring the game to a seven-point tiebreaker.
Eventually, the Terps got on the board first after the tandem pulled out a close win — their fourth in five matches playing together.
“I think in doubles they had a lot of ups and downs,” Panova said. “I think they had a little bit of a down during the [third] set. They didn’t have to play a tiebreaker. But the very end, having two match points down and turning around and winning a tiebreaker was a great job.”
The Terps’ success carried into singles competition despite some early struggles. The Wolfpack claimed the first set in five of six matches and the Terps fell behind 2-1 when sophomores Olga and Nataliya Bredikhina lost in straight sets.
But the other four singles matches went into a third set, and the Terps won three of them to clinch the narrow victory.
Neither Panova nor Suarez-Malaguti believe the team would’ve won such a close match at the beginning of the year. They said they feel the victory shows the team’s growth and will give the players proof of their capabilities entering the ACC tournament.
“It’ll be something good for the girls to realize how good they can be and how feisty they can be and that really anybody can win,” Suarez-Malaguti said. “Anybody can get it done.”
The win places the Terps above N.C. State in the ACC tournament seeding. The No. 12-seed Terps, who would have had the 14th seed if they lost to N.C. State, will play No. 13-seed Wake Forest in the first round, a team they beat earlier this year.
The Terps will begin preparations for their second matchup with the Demon Deacons this week, and they’ll look to maintain the momentum from their latest victory.
“I think it’s a good way to finish our season,” Panova said. “It’s always nice to win a last match, no matter where you’re heading afterwards.”
