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The Daily Tar Heel

Duke women's tennis blanks Tar Heels to take ACC crown

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.

“The coaches decided (to stop at four) before and hadn’t told us, so I was kind of shocked that we were stopping,” Featherston said.

“But I understand that they want us to be rested for the weekend and the ACC (Tournament).”

Even though the Tar Heels respect the decision of their coach, it was difficult to step back from a tough match.

While De Bruycker, who was up 4-1 in her second set, knew that a victory in her match wouldn’t have made much of a difference at the end of the day, she wanted to put something up for her team.

“I really did want to finish that match. I just felt like I was so close to winning and I really wanted to get a point for us,” she said.

But the Tar Heels would have to walk away without a single point on their side of the scoreboard.

Despite winning her first set, Featherston was losing in her second set when the match was called, and she believes that there is a simple reason for UNC’s convincing loss.

“They just played a better match than us today,” she said.

With their first conference loss in hand, the Tar Heels want to use the rivalry defeat as motivation heading into the back stretch of the season.

“When you lose you want to get right back at it to get the taste out of your mouth,” Kalbas said.

“So we’re excited to play two more matches at home and hopefully get back on a winning streak.”

Contact the Sports Editor
at sports@dailytarheel.com.

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