UNC women's tennis team extends home win streak to 41 with pair of NCAA tournament wins

The North Carolina women’s tennis team entered the NCAA tournament having won 39 straight matches on its home court. The Tar Heels were hoping to turn the home cooking they have enjoyed at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center over the last couple of seasons into a spot in the round of 16 in Tulsa, Okla.

And with a 4-0 victory over East Tennessee State on Friday, and a 4-2 victory over No. 30 Northwestern on Saturday, the No. 3 seeded Tar Heels were able to do just that, extending their home win streak to 41 matches.

UNC (31-2) came out ready to play against the Buccaneers (20-3), quickly taking the doubles point with victories by the tandems of senior Ashley Dai and first-year Chloe Ouellet-Pizer, and junior Hayley Carter and senior Whitney Kay. 

First-year Jessie Aney, Carter and Ouellet-Pizer would win their singles matches in straight sets to clinch the opening-round win for their team, setting up a second-round matchup with a Northwestern team that lost a few close matches against tough competition this season, but is traditionally highly ranked and is always well coached.

“We were, I think, a little bit unfortunate to get them so early in the draw,” said Carter on Friday. “Because I think they’re better than where they were seeded.”

On Sunday, the Tar Heels looked early on as if they were going to keep the momentum from their first-round victory going and sweep the Wildcats out of Chapel Hill. UNC jumped to an early lead behind a 6-0 victory by senior Kate Vialle and Aney, with Carter and Kay again clinching the doubles point for their team.

However, Northwestern would battle back in singles competition. The Wildcats tied the overall score with a straight-set victory by sophomore Alex Chatt over Vialle. The Tar Heels would then counter with a straight-set victory of their own courtesy of Ouellet-Pizer. UNC went up 2-1, but trailing on the remaining four courts.

“This is the hardest working, most competitive team I’ve coached,” Coach Brian Kalbas said. “So I wasn’t worried, but you have to have some people kind of turn it around.”

Who better to step up when the team needs a leader on the court, than Carter, the No. 1 ranked singles player in the country. After trailing in the opening set 5-2, she would battle back to win 7-5, and clinch the point with a slightly-easier 6-4 second-set victory.

“I think one of the biggest keys to my game is I’m never going to give in on a point,” she said. “I’m going to work for every single point, and I think eventually that tends to wear my opponent down.”

After Kay, who was battling an illness, lost her match in three sets, the Tar Heels lead was cut to 3-2.  They needed a victory from either Aney or Dai to clinch the match. It was the senior Dai who was able to close out her three-set match first, sealing the victory for her team.

“I know we were struggling a little bit, and I tried not to look at the scoreboard, Dai said. “But to be able to come through for them, and move on to Tulsa, was a really special moment I’ll remember forever.”

@CPhillips2020

sports@dailytarheel.com