The No. 4 North Carolina women’s tennis team kicked off the season with two victories on Sunday, as UNC thrashed in-state competitors Elon and Appalachian State at the Cone-Kenfield Center.
The Tar Heels defeated the Phoenix 6-1 early in the afternoon and finished the day with a 7-0 win over the Mountaineers. UNC was led by sixth-ranked singles player Hayley Carter, who didn’t drop a single game against either of her singles opponents and also contributed to two doubles wins.
The Tar Heels were also helped by first-year Jessie Aney, who broke into the singles rankings at No. 68 in the first poll of the year. Aney only dropped one game on her way to 6-0, 6-0 and 6-1, 6-0 victories to kick off her first season on the team.
Senior Kate Vialle matched that feat, dropping only one game on the day. No. 112 Chloe Ouellet-Pizer, a first-year, and No. 94 Cassandra Vazquez, a sophomore, also picked up victories in both of their singles matches.
The sole loss of the day for the Tar Heels was at No. 2 singles against Elon, where sophomore Marika Akkerman was forced to retire after winning the first set 6-4 against Elon sophomore Erica Braschi. Sophomore Maggie Kane filled in for Akkerman against Appalachian State and earned a 6-0, 6-2 victory.
The Tar Heels were undefeated on the doubles side, highlighted by the 16th-ranked duo of Vialle and Aney — who picked up a 6-0 against the Phoenix and a 6-2 victory against the Mountaineers.
Quotable
“I’ve been having a countdown for the last two months, so it was very exciting when my countdown reached zero and I got to go on the court. I had a little countdown app, and I would go on it and see how many seconds until we were playing. I was nervous before, but once I got on the court it felt great to be representing this university.” — Aney on the anticipation of officially kicking off her first-year season.
