Opponents don’t usually spend time together right before competing, but teammates Jessie Aney and Sara Daavettila did just that on Monday.
Before battling it out on the court in the singles final of the ITA Carolina Regional — where Daavettila earned a berth in the upcoming ITA National Individual Indoor Championship with a 2-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 win — the two North Carolina women's tennis teammates ate lunch, rode to the game and warmed up together. Then, they were pitted against one another.
But their competition wouldn’t keep them from having fun.
“I came to pick her up and I didn’t unlock the door for a while,” Aney said, with a smile across her face. “I told her she was going to have to run there so that she would be tired.”
The two players advanced to the finals of the regional after having little trouble with their competition throughout the five-day tournament.
Aney, a sophomore and the No. 3 seed in the tournament, defeated her first four opponents in straight sets and advanced to the finals after coming back to beat No. 2 seed Ingrid Martins of South Carolina, 7-5, 5-7, 7-6 (3).
Daavettila won her first four matches — three in straight sets — to move on to the semifinals. She advanced to face her teammate by beating No. 4 seed Martina Frantova of N.C. State, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.
Both players admitted wearing the same shade of blue and sharing their friendship off the court initially kept them from focusing on the match at hand.
“This has never happened to me before,” Daavettila said. “It was awkward at first, but once we got in the match and started competing, I realized I wasn’t playing a person. I was playing ball.”
