The North Carolina women’s tennis team opened its spring season with two dominant victories in a home doubleheader against Elon and Charleston Southern.
UNC's performance on Saturday showed the strength of its experienced core and the depth the Tar Heels have with several new faces getting playing time. From the start, it was clear UNC was the better team in both matchups.
North Carolina earned every singles and doubles point, winning both matches 7-0.
For the team's trio of seniors, it was the beginning of their final season in a UNC uniform. Seniors Sara Daavettila and Alexa Graham had an impressive day, only allowing one game point between the two of them. They also won their doubles match as a pair, 6-1.
However, they went into the locker room feeling more excited about the performances of their younger teammates.
“We had a really good class of freshmen come in,” Graham said. “It’s so hard for a coach to pick who should be playing and who can’t play because everything is so solid.”
These first-years include Kacie Harvey, Anika Yarlagadda and Elizabeth Scotty, the latter of whom joined the team at the start of the spring semester.
Harvey was the only one of the trio to play two singles matches, winning both handily. This included a 6-0, 6-0 shutout during the match against Charleston Southern. Yarlagadda and Harvey also won their singles matches by large margins and got their team points in doubles play.
They join a talented group of veterans, led by Graham and Daavettila, who are coming off of fantastic fall seasons. Graham made the final of the ITA All-Americans tournament, played for Team USA at the international level and participated in the BNP Paribas International Collegiate Team and the 2019 Pan-Am Games. Daavettila won the ITA Fall National Championship singles title, a run that included a victory over last year’s NCAA Singles Champion Estela Perez-Somarriba of Miami. She was also given the ITA Sportsmanship Award.
