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The Daily Tar Heel

W. Tennis: No. 17 UNC scores upset victory against No. 7 Florida

Although Sunday afternoon was North Carolina's Kids Club Day at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center UNC's Sanaz Marand and Sophie Grabinski found their doubles match anything but child's play.

The nation's No. 15 doubles team fell behind Florida's No. 18 pairing of Megan Alexander and Marrit Boonstra and rallied from a three-game deficit to deadlock the score at 8-8.

And that's when the two doubles teams learned just how evenly matched they really were.

In the tiebreak Florida initially took a 6-3 lead but UNC fought back to tie the score at 6-6.

From there neither team was able to deliver a knockout blow and the tiebreak simply stretched on and on.

Marand and Grabinski raised their arms in relief when an errant return of serve hit the net giving them the victory at 16-14 and helping UNC sweep the doubles point.

That point coupled with wins in singles by Grabinski Laura Reichert and Shinann Featherston clinched the No. 17 North Carolina's 4-3 upset of No. 7 Florida.

Grabinski said she wasn't obsessing about the outcome of the tiebreaker" even though she and Marand faced 11 total match points.

""When Sanaz and I stay calm and when we have fun and have a good time" we do so much better than when we're uptight and thinking about the score Grabinski said.

I just thought it was funny. I thought the whole time it was hilarious. It was match point match point match point" and we loved that.""

The Tar Heels played a player down in singles as Katrina Tsang" who came into the match with an injured knee sat out after playing doubles. Tsang is the team's No. 2 player but UNC's depth made sure her absence wasn't a factor as players at the No. 3" 5 and 6 singles spots secured the victory.

""We have a very deep team" coach Brian Kalbas said. This gives us a lot of confidence to play even without Katrina in singles" and beat this caliber of team going into (ITA indoor team nationals).""

Grabinski surprised the No. 78-ranked player in the country with a straight set 6-1" 7-6 victory and Reichert dispatched her opponent with ease in a 6-2 6-2 win.

But on the four other courts the Gators seemed to have the edge.

With UNC in the lead 3-0" Florida was on its way to wins on three of the remaining courts and UNC's Featherston had just lost a second set on the other.

But Featherston took the momentum back from her opponent by seizing an early third set lead and never looked back. The freshman capped the win before she could feel the pressure of the moment with a 6-2 final set.

""I knew that we were the underdog in this match" and I think that makes me play better Featherston said. I wasn't thinking about the outcome" I was just thinking point by point.""

""Florida is a big rival … so I was happy I could pull this out for my team.""

Kalbas said he was excited to have Featherston for three more years in the hopes that she will keep pulling out big wins such as this one for the Tar Heels.

""The way she competes" the way she tries hard" is just going to make her better and better.""



Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.


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