Tar Heels women's tennis wraps up play at Freeman Memorial in Las Vegas

Days before returning to Chapel Hill for their opening team matches of the season, the North Carolina women’s tennis players faced some of the country’s top singles players at the Freeman Memorial Tennis Championships in Las Vegas.

Ranked No. 4 in the ITA preseason poll, UNC will open its dual match season today against UNC-Greensboro and Elon.

If UNC wins either of the matches, head coach Brian Kalbas will record his 400th career head coaching win. He spent 11 seasons as William & Mary’s head coach before he took over at UNC in 2003.

Kalbas said he thinks the competition of a season-opening match will motivate the team’s freshmen and players returning from injury.

UNC returns five of six starters from last year, a team which reached the NCAA quarterfinals and won the ACC women’s tennis tournament.

At the Freeman Memorial, UNC junior Lauren McHale upset UCLA’s No. 8 Robin Anderson in a shortened third set, the highest seed defeated by a Tar Heel in the tournament.

“I think my confidence is stronger this year because of how I played in the fall. I wasn’t as nervous as I was in the past,” McHale said. “I knew going into the match that I could beat her (Anderson), and I wasn’t really concerned about her ranking.”

McHale and senior Shinann Featherston also defeated Duke’s Monica Gorny and Monica Turewicz in the tournament’s doubles bracket.

“It was strange playing Duke in Las Vegas but it was very exciting,” McHale said. “That was the first win for me and Shinann together since her injury.”

UNC’s Zoe De Bruycker, the No. 44 singles player in the ITA preseason poll, faced No. 1 singles player, Stanford’s Mallory Burdette, on Saturday.

After winning the first set 6-4, De Bruycker lost the final two sets in the tournament’s quarterfinals singles match.

“I give her a lot of credit, because after the first set she hit winners basically every ball,” De Bruycker said. “But I was happy with how I played most of the tournament. I think all my matches this weekend helped me with my confidence and my game in general to prepare for the season.”

De Bruycker responded the next day by defeating UCLA’s No. 62 McCall Jones in three sets to finish the Freeman Memorial with a 3-1 singles record.

“It’s great to finish a long weekend knowing that your fitness, conditioning and competitiveness have gotten better,” Kalbas said. Hopefully that will continue in tomorrow’s matches.”

Despite its success at the Freeman Memorial, UNC is not focused on repeating as ACC champions this early in the season.

Seven ACC teams are ranked in the top 20 of the ITA preseason poll. UNC went undefeated in the ACC two years ago, the only team in conference history with an unblemished record.

“When you’re playing so many tough opponents, the chance of success is not great,” Kalbas said. “We’re going to have some losses, but I think if we’re playing our best tennis at the end of the year, we have a chance to host an NCAA regional, and maybe compete for an NCAA championship.”

UNC will play 14 matches against the top 21 ITA preseason teams, 10 of which will be away from the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.