Tennis team conquers two Virginia foes

The No. 5 North Carolina women's tennis team has proven that upsets are hard to come by against the Tar Heels - the team's only losses among its 19 wins have come against No. 1 Stanford, No. 2 Notre Dame and No. 7 Miami. They continued the trend this weekend, fending off two ACC foes from the state to the north as they beat Virginia and Virginia Tech, both by 6-1 scores. "Our team really played inspired tennis," said Coach Brian Kalbas. "We just handled a very hot and competitive (Virginia) team at their home court." The streaking No. 43 Cavaliers were coming off wins against No. 22 Texas Christian and No. 10 Duke, but UNC opened the match by taking the doubles point from Virginia and parlayed the momentum into victories by Sara Anundsen and Jenna Long for a 3-0 lead. After Virginia got on the scoreboard with a No. 4 singles win, the Tar Heels ran off victories in the final three matches to emphatically seal the victory. "We were focused and competed extremely well, all the way down the line from doubles to singles," Kalbas said. "Sometimes you actually had to finish the point three or four times because they were really scrappy." Anundsen led the charge this weekend, going undefeated in her four matches and winning both singles matches in straight sets. "She's really been playing good tennis for us in a lot of the matches," Kalbas said. "Sara is potentially one of the better No. 3 players in the nation." But instead of giving credit to one player, Kalbas praised his upperclassmen - and top three singles players - Long, Caitlin Collins and Anundsen for leading the team. "All of our juniors have been rocks for us," Kalbas said. "Caitlin is on an amazing singles streak right now. Sara, obviously this weekend was big. Her and Jenna beat the No. 13 doubles team in the country against Virginia." And while acknowledging that UNC has been able to avoid getting beat by lower-ranked teams, Kalbas preferred to use the term "business-like" to describe the team. There is a lot more business for the Tar Heels to take care of, though, as they take on Wake Forest, Duke and Georgia Tech in the next two weeks. "The Wake Forest match coming up on Wednesday is going to be an extremely tough match for us," Kalbas said. With a brutal nonconference schedule and an ACC slate that includes four matches against teams in the top 16, Kalbas said the team's balance has been crucial to surviving a long season. "You can't look at our lineup and say we're weak at this spot," he said. "Not one player has to carry the load." The travel schedule is at least kind to the Tar Heels the rest of the way - they won't have to play a match outside of the state until the NCAA regionals in May. For Kalbas, it won't be much of a breather. "The competition is going to be tough enough," he said. Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.