The No. 1 North Carolina women’s tennis team defeated Virginia Tech, 7-0, on Sunday, securing its sixth ACC regular season title in seven seasons.
What happened?
The Tar Heels (26-1, 14-0 ACC) took the lead early on with two doubles wins to secure the doubles point against Virginia Tech (8-15, 2-12 ACC). The No. 7 duo of Jessie Aney and Alexa Graham won the first match for North Carolina, defeating Natalie Novotna and Rita Pinto, 6-1. Alle Sanford and Sara Daavettila defeated Sarah Baron and Samantha Gillas, 6-2 to clinch the doubles point for UNC. On Court Two, No. 6 Cameron Morra and Makenna Jones went up against Virginia Tech's Nika Kozar and Nina Sorkin and left the match unfinished, 4-2.
In singles, No. 6 Graham took the first victory, defeating No. 124 Novotna, 6-2, 6-2. Next off the court, No. 5 Jones beat Kozar, 6-1, 6-2. No. 12 Daavettila defeated Gillas, 6-2, 6-1, cementing the lead for the Tar Heels, 4-0. Sanford defeated Sorkin, 6-4, 6-2.
Although Aney lost the first set in singles to Pinto 6-3, she came back with a win in the second set, 6-1. In a third-set tiebreaker, Aney took the victory against Pinto, 10-4. Brought to another tie breaker, No. 36 Morra defeated Elizabet Danailova, 7-6(8) in the first set. In the second set, Morra beat Danailova, 6-2, to secure the final singles point win, bringing the Tar Heels to a 7-0 victory over Virginia Tech.
Who stood out?
Graham came out with victories for North Carolina early on, with the first doubles and singles win. Graham won her 100th career singles match in her 6-2, 6-2 victory against Novotna, joining teammates Aney and Chloe Oullet-Pizer who previously reached the 100-win mark. Graham paved the way for North Carolina with her win against Novotna, which began a clean sweep in singles matches.
When was it decided?
After securing the doubles point, North Carolina won straight sets in the first three matches of singles. It was decided after Daavetilla defeated Virginia Tech’s Gillas in singles, 6-2, 6-1, which brought the Tar Heels the decisive fourth point.
