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The Daily Tar Heel

Four to Be Reckoned With: Women's Tennis 1 of 4 ACC Champs Crowned

UNC broke Duke's streak of 14 consecutive ACC titles with a 4-3 championship victory Sunday in Raleigh.

RALEIGH -- Victory, they say, is so sweet.

But this year's women's tennis ACC championship was about sweet revenge.

After beating Wake Forest 4-2 on Saturday to reach the finals, North Carolina beat top-seeded Duke 4-3 in the final round of the ACC Tournament on Sunday. The Tar Heels grabbed their fifth conference title in program history with the victory.

Second-seeded and eighth-ranked UNC also snapped the top-seeded Blue Devils' streak of 14 consecutive ACC championships at the Millbrook Exchange Tennis Center

But that tradition was far from anyone's minds. The tradition at hand was the recent clashes between these two teams.

For North Carolina's Kate Pinchbeck, who clinched the match with a three-set win against Amanda Johnson, the victory smacked of revenge, considering her past difficulties in the rivalry.

In last year's regular-season matchup against UNC, Johnson clinched the match by defeating Pinchbeck in a third-set tiebreaker.

And on April 13, Johnson broke Pinchbeck's streak of 24 straight wins in another three setter.

But this time it was Pinchbeck's turn to slam the door shut.

After splitting the first two sets, Pinchbeck slapped Johnson with a goose egg in the third set to win 6-3, 4-6, 6-0.

"I was left wondering what it felt like to have the whole team come rushing out and you be the hero," Pinchbeck said. "Words can't describe how I felt when I won."

Pinchbeck's would taste sweet victory again later when she was named the tournament's MVP.

"I'm particularly proud of Kate," said UNC coach Jen Callen.

"I knew that if I could just get her to calm down and to play within herself that she could do it."

What got the ball rolling for the Tar Heels (22-4, 10-1 in the ACC) was the doubles point, which they won with relative ease.

UNC's No. 2 pair of Kendall Cline and Aniela Mojzis won 8-4, while Pinchbeck and Lee Bairos shut out the 25th-ranked Duke duo of Julie DeRoo and Johnson 8-0 at No. 3 doubles.

Last Saturday, when the two met in the regular season, UNC lost the doubles point. During the regular season, the Tar Heels were 22-0 when they won the doubles point and 1-4 when they lost.

"It was the doubles point that basically clinched the match for us," Pinchbeck said. "Because that's what it basically came down to. The doubles win transferred a lot of good energy into the singles."

Although the doubles point gave a lot of confidence to UNC, the Tar Heels lost four of six first sets.

But Mojzis, playing at the No. 4 singles spot, was able to rebound from the early deficit and won in three sets against Duke's Iona Plesu 4-6, 6-2, 6-0.

"They're a special team. A lot of heart, a lot of fight, a lot of gutsy performances went into this match," said Callen. "I think the players have realized that this is what they have to do."

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To add to UNC's points, No. 3 seed and 44th-ranked Rotondi rocked 34th-ranked DeRoo in straight sets 6-3, 6-4.

Duke won big at the top and the bottom seeds. At No. 1 singles, Blue Devil Kelly McCain knocked out UNC's Marlene Mejia 6-2, 6-3, while Saras Arasu defeated Bairos 6-1, 6-4 at the No. 5 spot.

Katie Granson beat out UNC's Cline 6-1, 6-0 at No. 6 singles.

"UNC just came out after us," said Duke coach Jamie Ashworth. "We just weren't ready to play that kind of tennis."

After tasting the sweetness of revenge, Callen said, "There is no way to describe my feelings right now."

And when Callen returned to the facts of breaking the streak, the beaming coach, in her first year at UNC, kept on smiling.

"I couldn't feel any better about it."

 

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