UNC routs 2nd top-30 team in as many weeks

If there is one thing the North Carolina women’s tennis team hasn’t shied away from so far this season, it’s tough competition.

Just four matches into the season, the No. 15 Tar Heels already have defeated their second top-30 team, taking down No. 29 Indiana 6-1 Sunday at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.

“I’m so happy for our freshmen to get to come in and play and see how it is to be such a dominant team,” said senior Kendall Cline. “At the same time of course I’m a little bit concerned. … Each match there’s more pressure. You want to continue the winning streak. … I don’t want to think about it too much.”

UNC (4-0) hopes the victory against the Hoosiers (2-2) and its defeat of then-No. 15 Tennessee on Jan. 22 will serve as a solid foundation going into the ITA National Team Indoors, which start Thursday.

“Last year (when) we went to team indoors we didn’t have a real competitive match,” said UNC coach Brian Kalbas. “This is going to help us prepare for that big and important tournament.”

UNC took the double points with victories by both the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds. The tandem of Aniela Mojzis and Cline, who rank 14th in the nation, easily routed Indiana’s Sarah Batty and Dominika Walterova, 8-1.

The second-seeded pair of Sara Anundsen and Jenna Long clinched the doubles point for the Tar Heels by ousting Laura McGaffigan and Brianna Williams, 8-4. The Hoosier duo of Cecile Perton and Dora Vastag defeated UNC’s No. 3 pair of Caitlin Collins and Charlotte Tansill in a tiebreaker, 8-7 (4).

Anundsen also clinched the match for UNC by winning at the fourth seed. The sophomore took down Williams, 6-1, 6-1.

The Tar Heels had a test of patience as both the second- and sixth-seed matches came down to tiebreakers.

The No. 2 seed Cline, who ranks 37th nationally, struggled with an inconsistent serve, firing at least two aces in two separate games but also giving up at least two points on double faults. The senior bounced back from dropping the first set to defeat Batty, 5-7, 6-1, (10-7).

Tansill played her second tiebreaker of the day after claiming the first set against Perton but dropping the second. The freshman came back in the tiebreaker to record a 6-2, 4-6, (10-6) victory.

“(Indiana’s) very smart,” Kalbas said “They play within themselves. They don’t make a lot of mistakes, so we had to kind of be as smart, be as patient, and I thought we did that well.”

Mojzis, who ranks 26th in the nation, won by default after Indiana’s Vastag retired with a leg injury after the first set, which the Tar Heel senior had won 7-4.

UNC’s fifth singles victory came from fifth-seeded Collins, who defeated Walterova 6-1, 6-2.

At the No. 3 seed, Long fell to Indiana’s McGaffigan, 5-7, 3-6.

The four-day ITA tournament will be a test of endurance for UNC, especially because the Tar Heels won’t be seeded and must face a top-8 team in the first match.

“You want to be playing your best tennis at the end of the year,” Kalbas said. “So this gives us an opportunity midseason to see where we need to go.”

 

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.