Carson Tanguilig shines as UNC women's tennis defeats N.C. State 7-0

In spite of two weather delays, the No. 1 North Carolina women’s tennis team (25-0) defeated the No. 7 North Carolina State (17-3) Wolfpack 7-0 on Thursday in Chapel Hill. 

What happened?

In doubles, UNC captured an early lead. 

Without dropping a single game point, No. 22 senior Elizabeth Scotty and first-year Reese Brantmeier upset No. 11 NC State junior Amelia Rajecki and fifth-year Nell Miller, winning 6-0. Ending their undefeated streak this season, graduate student Abbey Forbes and junior Reilly Tran fell 2-6. 

With the doubles results tied 1-1, the team point came down to No. 6 junior Fiona Crawley and sophomore Carson Tanguilig on court two. In a tightly-contested match-up, the UNC duo found the score tied 3-3. For two straight games, Crawley and Tanguilig tied-up the score 40-40, and the two survived every deuce point, allowing them to pull ahead with a lead they did not lose. 

Winning three straight games, Crawley and Tanguilig clinched the doubles point with a 6-3 victory. 

The team’s toughest singles test of the season awaited them next. After the first half of singles play, the first set victories were split evenly, 3-3. A lightning delay sent both teams inside, and after a 30 minute delay, play continued with senior No. 27 Anika Yarlagadda soon picking up the first singles point with a 6-2, 6-1 win. 

No. 16 Tanguilig adds the third point with a 6-3, 6-2 victory, and No. 25 Forbes outlasted Wolfpack junior Sophie Abrams to clinch the match for the Tar Heels. 

The remaining three Tar Heels came back from losing the first set to force a tiebreak. Scotty won out against NC State’s junior Gina Dittman, clinching a 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win. Following her lead, No. 1 Crawley found her groove, defeating No. 13 graduate student Alana Smith with a final score of 3-6, 4-6, 10-7. 

Finishing out the four-hour-long match-up, Reese Brantmeier grabbed the last team point with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 win.   

Who stood out? 

Tanguilig was an explosive force at the net in doubles. When the score was 5-3, the sophomore gave the duo an early jump in the game by taking over the court at the net, hitting five straight volleys. She clinched the match and the doubles point on a deep volley hit right between both NC State players to highlight her game-winning presence. 

Her dominance continued into singles, where she put another point on the scoreboard for UNC. 

When was it decided?

Forbes’ singles match was the deciding point. In the first set, Forbes won 6-4, but Abrams was showing signs of a comeback late in the set, winning four of the last six points. 

During the second set, the UNC graduate student fell into an early deficit, losing three of the first four games. However, Forbes became more aggressive with her shot selection, and she closed the deficit to tie it up 3-3. She won a decisive 40-40 tie to finally take the lead, and she did not give it up for the remainder of the match. 

Forbes clinched the match in UNC’s favor with a perfect ace serve, ending with a score of 6-4, 6-3.  

Why does it matter?

In the team’s first conference match against a top-10 opponent, the North Carolina team came out on top – not dropping a single team point. Despite splitting the first singles sets evenly, every single Tar Heel player that was behind came back to win and forced a tie-breaker. 

Dominant singles play coupled with a strong doubles performance suggests the team is peaking at the right time as they head into the final two conference matches.  

When do they play next?

The Tar Heels will face No. 24 Wake Forest on Saturday at 11 a.m.

@carolinewills03

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