Women’s tennis team falls to Duke in ACC final

WINSTON-SALEM — It’s been a tough season for North Carolina’s Zoe De Bruycker.

But as the ACC tournament got underway this weekend, De Bruycker was finding her rhythm at just the right time to help guide her team through a couple difficult postseason matches.

After a first-round bye, the No. 8 Tar Heels started off the ACC tournament against No. 32 Florida State on Friday with a 4-2 win at Cary Tennis Park. After beating Georgia Tech Saturday 4-3, the Tar Heels fell in the final against Duke, 4-2.

Against FSU, UNC got a decisive 8-1 victory from the duo of Haley Hemm and Tessa Lyons, followed closely by an 8-4 win from Caroline Price and Gina Suarez-Malaguti to grab the doubles point.

UNC would need that momentum going into the singles matches because the Seminoles were not ready to go down without a fight, winning one of the matches in straight sets and pushing three more of them into third sets before De Bruycker, Suarez-Malaguti and Shinann Featherston were able to clinch the match with a 4-2 win.

“(Florida State) played really well and kept fighting, but we finished strong, so that’s something that we can take away from today,” Featherston said.

De Bruycker agreed that there are plenty of lessons to be learned from UNC’s drawn-out victory against FSU, but she said a tough first match will help the Tar Heels in their next matches versus opponents that are just as strong.

Although she has struggled to come out on top in her singles matches recently, winning just two of her last eight matches, De Bruycker was a big contributor to North Carolina’s win, beating FSU’s Ruth Seaborne in straight sets.

“I feel good because it’s been a while since I was able to get a win,” De Bruycker said.

In the second game, she would need to get an even more crucial victory to ensure UNC’s spot in the final Sunday.

After dropping the doubles point for just the fifth time this season to No. 25 Georgia Tech and losing two singles matches, the Tar Heels and Yellow Jackets were tied at three, and it came down to De Bruycker, who pulled out a straight victory to clinch UNC’s spot opposite conference rival Duke in the final.

“I have struggled a little bit this season, so it feels really good to be in the tournament and to be able to contribute and get that point for my team every day,” De Bruycker said.

After two difficult matches, the Tar Heels’ tournament hopes came down to an emotional marathon rivalry match that would last almost five hours.

Even though UNC’s only regular season conference loss came at the hands of the Blue Devils, the two matches were like night and day.

“Duke is a very talented team, and they played better this time than they did the first time (we played them), but we made them earn it this time,” coach Brian Kalbas said.

After getting swept in the doubles matches during their regular season matchup, the Tar Heels were able to come from behind to take the first point of the match.

But despite having the momentum going into singles, De Bruycker was the only Tar Heel who was able to pull out a win.

While her clinching win on Saturday was the difference between victory and defeat, De Bruycker’s lone singles win wasn’t enough for a repeat ACC tournament title.

“Everyone fought really hard, every match was really close and we were in it to the very end,” De Bruycker said.

“We were just a little short today.”

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