The North Carolina women’s tennis team won the program’s first national title on Monday after defeating No. 2 UCLA 4-3 in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Va.
The Daily Tar Heel covered the weekend’s tournament, but there were a few extra storylines worth noting.
UNC crushes Duke
Overlooked amidst the jubilation of winning a national championship, UNC comfortably beat No. 3 Duke 4-0 in the semifinals.
While playing Duke was just another match in its title run, the team still took great satisfaction in beating the Blue Devils.
“It’s not just part of the tournament — it’s Duke,” said coach Brian Kalbas. “Duke-Carolina is the biggest rivalry in sports.”
Senior Gina Suarez-Malaguti placed a slightly smaller emphasis on the win, preferring to focus more on the team championship, but she said it was nice to beat Duke in such a quick fashion.
For freshman Whitney Kay, who won a dramatic third-set tiebreaker against UCLA to win the championship, this was her first taste of the rivalry.
“It’s such a big rivalry, so it was a big win for us,” Kay said. “We knew we could beat them, but we didn’t expect to win 4-0.”
A tough draw
While this tournament brought in the best competition from around the country, the Tar Heels had to go through the full gauntlet.
The eighth-ranked Tar Heels easily defeated No. 13 Texas A&M 4-0 before taking down No. 4 USC 4-3. UNC then faced the second- and third-best teams in the country in Duke and UCLA, the defending indoor national champion.
The Tar Heels’ top singles player, 11th-ranked Suarez-Malaguti, faced UCLA’s sixth-ranked Robin Anderson in the finals.
Anderson hadn’t lost in singles this entire year before facing Suarez-Malaguti.
“I have a lot of respect for Robin,” Suarez-Malaguti said. “I sat in on her previous matches to see how she was playing. I noticed some things that would be in my favor, maybe with my athleticism or hitting the ball short.”
UNC has now jumped to no. 1 in the ITA rankings this week. The Tar Heels are still undefeated in match play this year.
No dearth of depth
When asked about what propelled UNC to victory, Kalbas, Suarez-Malaguti and Kay all immediately pointed to the depth of the team.
Kalbas pointed to the fact that UNC lost the doubles point in two of the four victories but won the doubles point in the other two.
“We have a lot of different ways we can win, and we’re not relying on one person,” Kalbas said.
While Suarez-Malaguti led from the top singles seed and Kay saved the day in the finals, the whole team played a big part in both grinding out wins and blowouts.
Kalbas pointed to senior Lauren McHale against Duke, sophomore Caroline Price against UCLA and freshman Ashley Dai against USC.
“We’re nine deep,” Kalbas said. “That is a huge weapon we’re going to use throughout the year.”
To get the day's news and headlines in your inbox each morning, sign up for our email newsletters.
