Tennis continues ACC dominance

The North Carolina women’s tennis team faced two ACC opponents this weekend. One the Tar Heels dominated with ease, while the other fought UNC until the third set of the final match.

The No. 3 Tar Heels (18-3, 7-0 ACC) narrowly edged No. 17 Virginia 4-3 on Saturday, when freshman Tessa Lyons won the final singles match of the day to break the deadlock and clinch the win.

Lyons trailed 4-1 in the third set, but UNC coach Brian Kalbas remained confident in her ability.

“Down 4-1 in the third (set), to come back and win says a lot about how tough she is mentally and how much she believes in herself,” Kalbas said.

All of Lyons’ teammates gathered as one on the adjacent court to cheer the freshman on to the clinching victory.

The Tar Heels captured the doubles point with an 8-6 win by tandem Lauren McHale and Shinann Featherston, and another 8-6 win by Zoe De Bruycker and Gina Suarez-Malaguti.

Virginia won the first singles match, but De Bruycker pegged one back for the Tar Heels, winning her singles match 6-4, 6-2 against Virginia’s Emily Fraser.

Virginia battled back, tying the score at three when Caryssa Peretz defeated UNC’s McHale in a third-set tiebreaker.

UNC’s Lyons and Virginia’s Maria Fuccillo battled in the decisive third set of the final match.

Lyons rallied, winning six of the last seven games to win the set and the match. Her 6-3, 6-7, 7-5 win clinched the 4-3 victory for UNC.

With the third set score at 6-5, Lyons was aided by a crucial overturn on a point by the official. Fuccillo and Virginia head coach Mark Guilbeau furiously argued with the official, but the call stood. Lyons capitalized, winning that game and taking the match.

“I was fighting back while Lauren (McHale) was in her third-set tiebreak,” Lyons said. “At the end of it, she just told me basically that she needed me … and once she told me that she needed me, I knew that I had to come through.

“It’s nerve-racking, but at the end of the day, you just want to do it for your team.”

On Sunday, North Carolina easily dispatched of Virginia Tech by a score of 6-1 for its 18th straight conference win.

After Virginia Tech won the first doubles match, UNC’s Jelena Durisic and Jennifer Stone rallied back from a 3-6 deficit to win their match 9-7. No. 6 doubles duo McHale and Featherston then won their match 9-7 to claim the doubles point for the Tar Heels.

Kalbas knew Virginia Tech’s strength was its doubles play and said his team was victorious because it knew when to be patient and when to be aggressive.

UNC then cruised through the singles matches, taking five out of the six matches.

“We were definitely a lot more focused (against Virginia Tech),” Durisic said. “Yesterday (against Virginia) was a very tough day, so today we wanted to get the matches over with quickly and not let them back and lose the momentum.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.