Graduate student Abbey Forbes raced to the net to launch a hard, fast overhead into an unreachable corner on her opponent’s side of the court.
When the ball hit its intended mark, she let out a yell bursting with excitement.
Forbes had dominated the first set 6-1, but Appalachian State’s senior Helena Jansen was putting up a fight for the second set. Jansen was leading 4-3 before the two switched sides.
The UNC graduate student then went on to win the next 3 games, and after that, she closed the second set and clinched a match victory.
On the other side of the wall, another UNC tennis player was deep into a second set in her singles match. Junior Reilly Tran had lost her first set 5-7, yet she was on her way to a comeback at the same time that Forbes was bringing in the team’s win.
Tran was the opposite of Forbes: silent, calm and narrowly focused on a comeback victory.
On the courts of Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center Saturday afternoon, the North Carolina women’s tennis team beat out Appalachian State 6-1. Despite what appears to be a sweeping victory, the team displayed resiliency, exemplified by the singles matches of Forbes and Tran.
“Their overall attitude was really positive, and I think their effort was really strong,” head coach Brian Kalbas said. “I gave them an ‘A’ in both categories.”
Attitude and effort is a big emphasis for the team, according to Forbes, and this stuck with her throughout the match. She said, by focusing on these two things, everything else falls into place.