Tar Heels triumphant to start the outdoor tennis season

North Carolina’s “notorious nine” is to women’s tennis what Kentucky is to men's basketball. 

After going a perfect 18-0 in the indoor regular season and winning the ITA Division I National Women's Team Indoor Championship, UNC is ranked No. 1 in the nation for the sixth week in a row.

Now, going into the outdoor season, the team is looking for a similar run.

“(We want) to go undefeated in the ACC regular season so the other teams are intimidated by us,” senior Caroline Price said.

They are off to a good start.

At their first home outdoor match Friday, the Tar Heels quickly swept the Syracuse Orange 7-0.

“Today, being outside, it was our first match outdoors,” Coach Brian Kalbas said. “It was an opportunity for us to kind of get used to being outside in these conditions — it’s just different tennis.”

Outdoors is where is where the Tar Heels are comfortable, though.

“I was really excited to be outside,” junior Ashley Dai said. “Coming from California, we don’t really play a lot inside, so I’m back in my element.”

And she is not alone.

The rest of the team came to UNC from outdoor tennis programs, Kalbas explained. Playing outdoors comes more naturally to the team.

No matter how comfortable the team is, though, it still takes putting in time and practice to adjust to the outdoor environment after the indoor season.

“We’ve done a lot of different things to build up our conditioning stamina because we are going to be playing a lot longer matches outside with a lot longer points,” Kalbas said.

This new regime includes a variety of new workouts, such as biking and a ballet-inspired workout called barre.

While every kind of exercise helps the team improve fitness levels, nothing compares to simply practicing outside.

“We have to really be willing to play long points,” Kalbas said. “There are times where we hit indoor shots and the ball comes back. We have to be able to have more of a discipline mentality of expecting that ball to come back.”

UNC only had two outdoor practices before Friday’s match due to cold temperatures and rain. Although they would have liked more time to prepare, it didn’t seem to have an impact, as the Tar Heels blew past the Orange without giving up a single set.

Looking forward to the rest of the outdoor season, the team is focused on staying healthy and in shape.

“We have to set our goals not necessarily to win, but to get better,” Kalbas said.

sports@dailytarheel.com