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NC State’s Earnshaw Named ACC Women’s Tennis Coach of the Year, Rogers and Smith Claim All-ACC Honors
GREENSBORO, N.C. —Simon Earnshaw has been named ACC Women’s Tennis Coach of the Year, and Anna Rogers and Alana Smith have earned all-conference honors, as announced by the ACC office on Thursday. The announcement marks the third consecutive year that NC State has had two players named to the All-ACC team.
Anna Rogers earns first-team status and Alana Smith earns second-team status.
Earnshaw is just the second coach in the Pack’s history to garner Coach of the Year honors (Jenny Garrity, 1998) after leading the squad to a program-best 22 wins and a 22-6 record. The team also eclipsed the previous school record of seven ACC wins with 11 conference victories. The Pack finished tied for third in the conference, also a program-best mark.
To add to the already impressive resume, the team continued to rise through the ranks, besting program records in the category, before reaching its peak at No. 9 this season.
Earnshaw guided Rogers to the highest singles ranking in program history (No. 8) and Amanda Rebol to 88 career singles wins, registering as the most career singles wins in the NC State record books.
With Earnshaw at the helm during the 2019 campaign, NC State advanced to the ITA Indoor National Championship for the first time in school history. He also led the team to its first-ever win over Miami (Fla.) and to its first win over Georgia Tech since 1998.
Rogers’ first team all-conference appointment marks the first time NC State has been selected for first-team honors since the teams began to be distinguished in 2014. The junior has now been named to the all-conference team for the third straight season. Rogers and Joelle Kissell are the only two players in program history to be named to the all-conference team three times.
The Stamford, Conn., native was named ACC Women’s Tennis Player of the Week twice this season. Rogers now holds the program record for the highest singles ranking after being tabbed at No. 8 earlier this season.
Playing on court one, Rogers (29-13) has collected 16 ranked wins, including a victory over second-ranked Estela Perez-Somarriba of Miami (Fla.). Impressively, Rogers has won 13 of her 19 singles dual matches in straight sets. She also boasts a stretch in which she went on an 11-match winning streak that required victories over six ranked opponents.
Smith (30-12) is the first NC State freshman to garner all-conference honors since Rogers accomplished the feat in 2017. Competing on court two in every match she has played in, Smith collected a top-10 singles win against No. 10 Marta Gonzalez of Georgia, outlasting Gonzalez in three sets. Overall, Smith has defeated five ranked singles opponents.
A five-time ACC Women’s Tennis Freshman of the Week, Smith did not lose a singles match in the month of March. The Fort Washington, Md., native reached a high singles ranking of No. 68 this season.
Rogers and Smith compete in doubles together on court one. The duo has combined for 30 wins this season and boasts a 30-5 record. Tallying 12 ranked doubles victories, they have defeated two top-five opponents (No. 4 Leduc/Navarro – Clemson, No. 5 Koch/Khmelnitckaia – Kansas).
The junior-freshman duo is currently ranked No. 8 in the Oracle/ITA Division I Rankings, its highest ranking of the season and the second-highest in program history.
2019 ALL-ACC WOMEN’S TENNIS
Player of the Year: Estela Perez-Somarriba, Miami
Freshman of the Year: Cameron Morra, North Carolina
Coach of the Year:Simon Earnshaw, NC State
FIRST TEAM ALL-ACC
Maria Mateas, Duke
Meible Chi, Duke
Kenya Jones, Georgia Tech
Estela Perez-Somarriba, Miami
Anna Rogers, NC State
Alexa Graham, North Carolina
Makenna Jones, North Carolina
Gabriela Knutson, Syracuse
Meghan Kelley, Virginia
SECOND TEAM ALL-ACC
Marie Leduc, Clemson
Kelly Chen, Duke
Carla Touly, Florida State
Emmanuelle Salas, Florida State
Daevenia Achong, Miami
Alana Smith, NC State
Sara Daavettila, North Carolina
Cameron Morra, North Carolina
Emma Davis, Wake Forest
THIRD TEAM ALL-ACC
Yufei Long, Boston College
Kylie Wilcox, Boston College
Ellyse Hamlin, Duke
Ana Oparenovic, Florida State
Zoe Spence, Notre Dame
Cameron Corse, Notre Dame
Miranda Ramirez, Syracuse
Natalie Novotna, Virginia Tech
Eliza Omirou, Wake Forest