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The Daily Tar Heel

UNC women’s tennis team still undefeated in ACC play after matchups with Clemson, Ga Tech

The No. 8 North Carolina women’s tennis team is on a roll.

The Tar Heels have not dropped a match since Feb. 11 and are undefeated in ACC play, as they steadily climb the ITA national team rankings.

But those impressive feats were put on the line this weekend when they traveled south to take on both Georgia Tech and Clemson.

The Tar Heels managed to pull out their 10th and 11th consecutive victories and improve to 6-0 in ACC play with a 4-3 win against the Yellow Jackets and a 5-2 win against the Tigers.

“Both teams were really eager to beat us, but we just stayed focused and kept the pressure on and came out with the win,” senior Shinann Featherston said of UNC’s tight victories.

Despite a three-hour flight delay that sliced into the team’s practice time, cutting it to just 30 minutes on the morning of the match against Georgia Tech, UNC was still able to start strong by winning the doubles point for the eighth straight match.

After allowing Georgia Tech’s Jillian O’Neill to tie the match at one, the Tar Heels took the lead again and made sure they kept it.

“We weren’t able to practice Thursday night so our preparation was a little difficult for Georgia Tech,” coach Brian Kalbas said.

“We obviously wouldn’t like to have it that way, but our team has really come together and gotten close and their chemistry is really good, so I think they can deal with adversity really well.”

With just a day between UNC’s match in Georgia and its next one at Clemson, the Tar Heels had to bounce back quickly from Friday’s hard-fought win.

UNC started by continuing its domination in doubles, although this time it was by very slim margins, winning the two matches 9-8 and 9-7.

That point looked especially helpful when the Tar Heels dropped four of the first six sets in the singles matches against Clemson.

“We started off really slow in the singles — I think four of the six singles lost their first sets — but we just kept believing in ourselves and we wanted to show that we are never going to give up,” Featherston said.

She said the reason this Tar Heel team never gives up is because they’ve made it through many close matches in the past, and they are all willing to do everything it takes to bring home the win.

But with the No. 5 Miami Hurricanes on tap for next weekend and No. 3 Duke following soon after, Kalbas and his players know that there is no time for looking back.

“Our schedule’s not getting any easier, but every match we play we get more confident,” Kalbas said.
“We’re just focused on trying to get better and playing the next opponent.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.

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