Senior pair propels UNC

After she failed to capitalize on a return attempt, sophomore Jenna Long’s sigh of frustration echoed through the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center during Saturday’s women’s tennis match against UNC-Greensboro.

Long and fellow sophomore Sara Anundsen, who were teamed up in the doubles matches, dropped the first set to Spartans Lisa Suggs and Erica Zabkar.

“They started out a little slow,” said head coach Brian Kalbas. “But, I tried to get them to be aggressive on their returns. So, they started to play two back.

"Once they got that freedom in their return game, they started to get on a roll and were able to finish strong.”

After Kalbas’ coaching, the pair stepped back onto the court. Another good serve from the Spartans led to a meeting between the two Tar Heels.

The huddle did the trick, as Long smashed a return well enough that neither Suggs nor Zabkar was able to reach it.

Anundsen and Long continued to rally, dropping only two more sets in the match as they defeated Suggs and Zabkar 8-3.

The fifteenth-ranked Tar Heels only lost 15 total sets in the three doubles and six singles matches in the later match against UNC-G.

The Tar Heels improved to 2-0 after they defeated Davidson 6-1 and the Spartans 7-0.

Both ranked Tar Heels, No. 26 Aniela Mojzis and No. 37 Kendall Cline sacrificed playing together in doubles for the good of the team.

The pair, who as a doubles team are ranked fourteenth nationally, each played with a freshman.

Mojzis played with Charlotte Tansill, who had won both her singles match 6-2, 6-3, and doubles match 8-1, earlier in the day against Davidson College, and would go on to win both of her later matches as well.

Cline teamed up with Alexandra Jurewitz, who had recorded a singles loss, 7-5, 6-2, the only of the day, to the Wildcats.

“They are incredible players,” Kalbas said of Mojzis and Cline. “But they are even better people. When we put each of them with a freshman, they just led that freshman, and they communicated with them and sacrificed so much of their individual statistics for the team.”

The two seniors made an impact, as each won all four of their matches on the day, including defeating Davidson’s No. 1 doubles pair, 8-3.

Mojzis’ record improved to 11-4 on the year, and Cline’s to 16-2. In doubles play, they are 11-1 on the season.

North Carolina is looking to build upon these two wins as it enters its regular season schedule.

Next week, the team will face a Tennessee club that they lost to in the NCAA Tournament, and North Carolina will begin ACC play on February 16 at home against the Hokies of Virginia Tech.

“We hadn’t played a match since November,” Kalbas said. “So, obviously it’s important to play these matches. Not that they are gimmies, but just to figure out what we need to do in the coming week.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.