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The Daily Tar Heel

Women Rally Early, Cruise to Easy Victory

Wednesday, all it took was one word to ignite the North Carolina women's tennis team.

The No. 10 Tar Heels came back to win the doubles point and then cruised to a 6-1 win against William & Mary at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.

Down 7-4 in their doubles match, freshmen Kendall Cline and Aniela Mojzis were one game from losing not only the match but also the doubles point for North Carolina.

UNC and No. 19 William & Mary had already split the other two doubles matches, meaning the winner of this final match would take a 1-0 lead overall.

"The whole time, we were digging the hole for ourselves," Cline said, "But when it becomes really urgent, we can get it going."

Said Mojzis: "We just motivated each other with one word: 'c'mon.' That's what happened. That's how we play."

The comeback moved quickly as the pair won the next three games with ease. They lost the following one, though, and were down 8-7 when they faced two match points.

"It's a mental battle," Mojzis said. "We just had to stay positive."

The psychological approach worked as the pair, ranked No. 11 in the country, went on to win the game and force a tiebreaker.

In the tiebreaker, Mojzis and Cline again showed their flair for the dramatic, falling behind 5-1.

The Tribe then responded with three unforced errors.

"It was definitely a messy match," Cline said. "Each of us was really nervous."

But Mojzis and Cline calmed their nerves enough to triumph 11-9, overcoming two more match points.

"That helped our momentum tremendously going into singles," said UNC coach Jen Callen.

The Tar Heels (7-1) used that momentum, and perhaps superior skill, to dominate the singles portion of the match.

Surprisingly, the only loser was Marlene Mejia, who fell to Jessyca Arthur of William & Mary (7-1) in the No. 1 singles match.

The doubles heroes both won their singles matches. For Cline, who replaced the injured Lee Bairos, it was only her second singles match of the spring season.

"That was really impressive," Callen said, "for her to step in like that."

The 6-1 score is misleading. The outcome could have been different without the dramatic comeback by Cline and Mojzis.

Said Callen, "It came down to that."

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The Sports Editor can be reached atb sports@unc.edu.