North Carolina dismantles Quinnipiac, 4-0, to move on in NCAA Tournament

The No. 2 North Carolina women's tennis team had plenty of time to think about its first loss of the season. 

After the Tar Heels fell to Virginia in the ACC semifinals on April 25, dropping their record to 27-1, the team had a two week break before the start of the NCAA Tournament — two weeks to figure out what went wrong. 

And when UNC faced off against Quinnipiac in the first round of the NCAA tournament Saturday, the team looked like it had corrected its mistakes, dominating the Bobcats in a 4-0 victory.

"I think (the break) was good in a sense that we didn't go right back on because we hadn't had a moment to let it all set in," said senior Caroline Price. "Right when exams were done, we met as a team, and we kind of talked about what happened. And then next week we really just went at it." 

North Carolina (28-1) had its foot on the gas the entire week of practice leading up to the match, and when it came time for doubles play to begin against the Bobcats (14-8), the Tar Heels never let up. 

UNC would take the doubles point in just 22 minutes, the fastest time the team had accomplished the feat all year, as Price and Kate Vialle on court three and Hayley Carter and Whitney Kay on court one earned 8-0 victories almost simultaneously. 

Unlike in its match against Virginia, North Carolina captured the doubles point to gain early momentum, something that Coach Brian Kalbas said allowed his team to stay healthy. 

"The best way to conserve energy in a situation like this, match to match, is to go out there and get off to a good start," Kalbas said. "Staying mentally and physically strong — I think we did that through the doubles."

That strength would carry over to singles play, where the Tar Heels held Quinnipiac to just 11 games won. 

Jamie Loeb, UNC's No. 1 singles player and the No.7 singles player in the NCAA, dropped her first game against the Bobcats' Sophia Dzulynsky. After that, Loeb settled into a groove, taking the next twelve games en route to a 6-1, 6-0 victory. 

"It was a little windy. I really didn't know how she played, and I just made a few loose mistakes," Loeb said. "But then after that it was pretty good." 

Ashley Dai and Price would eventually follow suit, claiming straight-set victories of their own to clinch the match for the Tar Heels in just one hour and 24 minutes. 

With the win, North Carolina will move on to the second round of the NCAA Tournament Sunday where they will take on Dartmouth, which finished second in the Ivy League behind Princeton. 

And while Saturday's match proved to be a breeze for UNC, Kalbas said that the team can't afford to overlook the Big Green. 

"Quinnipiac … they were happy to be here. They didn't really believe they could beat us," he said. "I think Dartmouth has played enough really good teams this year that they will believe they can beat us. Any team can lose in any situation, so we have to be ready to go."