UNC women's tennis solidifies No. 1 ranking with victory

A midcourt collision between doubles pair Haley Hemm and Jocelyn Ffriend could not shake the determination of the North Carolina women’s tennis team (14-3) against No. 2 Northwestern (13-2) on Tuesday.

At 4 p.m. that afternoon, the Intercollegiate Tennis Association announced the weekly tennis rankings. Unbeknownst to the UNC players, they went into the Northwestern match as No. 1 after being No. 7 last week.

Doubles play began, and Shinann Featherston and Katrina Tsang won their match 8-4.

“Kat and I did a really good job of staying focused,” Featherston said. “We tried to finish our match quickly so we could cheer on the other girls.”

But Ffriend and Hemm lost theirs 5-8, even though they were able to laugh off their midmatch mistake.

That left Sanaz Marand and Sophie Grabinski to fight for the doubles point for UNC. They were up 7-5 but lost the lead, and their match was sent into a tiebreaker.

Marand and Grabinski buckled, and Northwestern seized the victory on the second match point.

The Tar Heels began singles play in the hole, but they immediately displayed their resilience with aggressive serves and dominant returns.

“I am so proud of the team for coming back after losing the doubles point,” coach Brian Kalbas said. “This is the first time all year that we have lost the doubles point and come back and won.”

Gina Suarez-Malaguti was one of the last Tar Heels playing, but she continued to push and finally overthrew her opponent 7-5, 6-1.

“I was nervous,” Suarez-Malaguti said. “But I love playing out there. Just being on the court makes me feel free.”

The strong wind that swept across the courts added yet another element of difficulty for UNC, but the team persevered.

“Wind definitely makes it tough, but we had the advantage,” Featherston said. “Coming from Chicago, Northwestern had never played an outside match.”

The Wildcats indeed crumbled, losing five of the six singles matches. Junior Jelena Durisic had to play a third set after going 4-6 and 7-5. But she won her third set, which ended the night with a North Carolina victory.

“They beat us in the finals of indoors, so we were really pumped to beat them,” Featherston said.

After the match ended, the players found out that they were No. 1 in the nation for the second time this season. The win solidified their confidence and their position atop the rankings.

“It was a big win” Suarez-Malaguti said. “We are proving ourselves and showing that we deserve to be number one in the country.”


Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.