It was a battle of ACC’s unbeaten on Thursday when the No. 5 North Carolina women’s tennis team traveled to Durham to take on No. 3 Duke.
Prior to their showdown, the two teams were tied for first in the ACC. But only one of them could emerge from this match with that ranking, and their unblemished record, still intact.
The Blue Devils proved to be that team, sweeping UNC 4-0 and snapping the Tar Heels’ 13-game winning streak. Duke (20-2, 9-0 ACC) handed North Carolina (18-5, 8-1) its first loss in the conference since it won the ACC Tournament last year.
“We all fought really hard, but I think we were lacking our usual toughness. You could just tell that there was something missing,” Zoe De Bruycker said.
UNC started off in unfamiliar territory when it lost all three doubles matches (8-4, 8-5, 8-2), losing the doubles point for the for the first time in 11 consecutive matches.
Without that usual momentum of the doubles point carrying them into the singles matches, the Tar Heels couldn’t seem to find their footing, and they dropped the first set in four of the six singles matches.
“Losing the doubles point came as a shock to us, so we didn’t come out in singles with the intensity that we needed,” coach Brian Kalbas said.
De Bruycker and Shinann Featherston were the only Tar Heels to win their first sets, but before they were able to finish up, the Blue Devils got their fourth point and the coaches decided to call the match to save their players for their respective matches this weekend.
Kalbas deliberately doesn’t tell his team when the decision is made before the match to call it when one team reaches four, so some of the girls were surprised that they wouldn’t get to finish.