CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Jaeda Daniel and Nell Miller are the first national champions in NC State women's tennis' 45-year history after claiming the 2022 NCAA Doubles Championships crown Saturday.
The top-seeded Wolfpack duo defeated Miami’s 13th-ranked Daevenia Achong and Eden Richardson by a 6-2, 7-5 score to win the first doubles title in program history. NCSU duo had defeated Achong and Richardson in the regular season. The NC State pair secured a 6-4 win over the Hurricanes in the teams' regular-season dual meeting.
Daniel and Miller set the tone right from first serve and immediately went up a break. The duo went on to break the Hurricanes once more in the opening set to take it by a 6-2 score.
The second set proved to be a tighter battle. After three-straight breaks, Miami held to take a 5-4 lead, but Daniel and Miller held for 5-5, broke back to go up 6-5 and served the set out at 7-5 to clinch the victory.
Daniel and Miller completed their season with a 27-5 record as a pair. They defeated 14 nationally-ranked opponents over the course of their 32 matches together, and the pair earned All-America status courtesy first of their seeding in the tournament and further capped off by their win in the final. Miller was a transfer from Texas Tech.
Daniel, who was also an All-American in singles this season, wrapped up an incredible three-year career with NC State. In addition to ranking ninth in team history in singles wins (62), the Auburn transfer amassed 79 doubles wins while with the Wolfpack to tie for fifth in the program's record book. Her team-leading 34 doubles victories this season alone marked the fourth-most in a single season by any NC State player.
Abigail Rencheli was also an All-American in singles after an impressive run to the quarterfinals in that draw.
The record-setting individual performances all came after another deep postseason run for the Pack during which it reached the quarterfinals of the team championship event for the second season in a row. NC State tied its program best final ranking of No. 6 and ended the year with a 26-6 record, with those 26 victories the most in a single season in team history.
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