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(04/08/10 3:54am)
She did it again.For the second time this season, North Carolina tennis player Sanaz Marand defeated Duke opponent Ellah Nze in the final, decisive match to seal the victory for the Tar Heels (20-3, 7-0 ACC) on Wednesday.Marand, a senior in her last match at Duke, was able to overcome the pressure of having the match on her shoulders and deliver a 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory.Her game-winning performance broke the 3-3 tie with the No. 7 Blue Devils (17-3, 5-1) and gave the No. 2 Tar Heels their second victory against Duke this season.“She’s always said, ‘I want the match to come down to me,’” UNC coach Brian Kalbas said. “You want somebody who wants that situation and that’s not going shy away from it.“The final match comes down to her match, and she just comes through for the team with that experience and the senior leader that she’s been for us.”Wednesday’s victory was the third 4-3 victory for the Tar Heels, two of which came against Duke. Both ended with a Marand three-set victory against Nze.Marand’s first victory against Nze in February took the Tar Heels to the finals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships.Keeping up with her reputation of team leader, Marand led North Carolina throughout the match. Marand was the only UNC player to win both a singles and doubles match Wednesday.Marand’s singles match was one of three matches in the contest that went to a third set.North Carolina was down 3-1 heading into the conclusion of the three three-setters. The Tar Heels would have to win all three singles matches to pull out the victory.After victories by fellow senior Katrina Tsang and sophomore Shinnan Featherson, Marand was put in the position to win the match with a win in the third set.Marand assumed the high-pressure position when she was up 3-1 in the third set.Marand held her serve throughout the third set, securing the win for the Tar Heels.“I think that she doesn’t worry about anything that’s around her,” Kalbas said. “She just focuses in and is really able to concentrate really well, and I think she relishes that.”After being put in game-changing situations multiple times this season, Marand said she has adjusted and has actually begun to enjoy them. “I like it,” she said. “It puts the match in my control. It comes down to me, and I know I would do anything to get the victory.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(04/01/10 4:47am)
She goes by Pichi.And though her nickname may draw reference to a soft, fuzzy fruit, North Carolina tennis player Gina Suarez-Malaguti is known more for her hard-hitting game that leaves her opponents in the pits.“My mom gave me that nickname since I was born,” Suarez-Malaguti said. “It comes from ‘pichina,’ which means ‘little girl’ in Italian.”The Venezuela native played like anything but a little girl in UNC’s 5-2 victory against No. 43 Wake Forest (7-9, 1-3 ACC), stepping up her play in lieu of losses from North Carolina’s top players.Suarez-Malaguti dominated Wake Forest opponent Ryann Cutillo in singles play, 6-1, 6-2, and teamed up with senior and team leader Sanaz Marand to cruise to a commanding 8-2 doubles win.Suarez-Malaguti’s two wins sealed the victory for the Tar Heels (17-3, 4-0 ACC), whose top three players did not score any points — top player Katrina Tsang sat out, while Jelena Durisic and Marand lost singles matches in third-set tiebreakers.“I think she’s shown a lot of maturity,” coach Brian Kalbas said. “She understands that she doesn’t always need to hit winners.”But Suarez-Malaguti didn’t entirely abandon her power game, as demonstrated by a number of athletic winners, including an emphatic cross-court winner on match point.The dynamic freshman has a versatile playing style, one that kept her opponent desperately trying to find and exploit weaknesses in Suarez-Malaguti’s game.“In the second set she started lobbing me more,” Suarez-Malaguti said. “She started pushing me back, and I don’t really like lobbing games.”Unfortunately for her opponent, Suarez-Malaguti doesn’t have too many holes in her game to exploit. She countered her opponent’s change in strategy with her power, keeping her foe on the move and preventing her from hitting well-placed lobs.“That’s my goal — hit the ball deep and use my strength,” Suarez-Malaguti said. “I’m known for being strong and stuff.”The other “stuff” she’s known for are her boisterous antics on court. Suarez-Malaguti is never at a loss for an animated celebration, whether it is a fist pump or a phrase in her native Spanish language.“I just get so fired up on the court,” Suarez-Malaguti said. “I love being on the court. It’s my favorite place because it’s where I get to be myself.”Suarez-Malaguti said her confidence on the court has been the key to her success. Just a freshman on the top team in the country, Suarez-Malaguti is playing at the fourth singles spot and teamed with No. 32 Marand in doubles.Suarez-Malaguti only started playing with Marand last week when Kalbas paired the two as an experiment during the Tar Heels’ 7-0 rout of Maryland on Sunday.In their first match together, the tandem started off slow, but won the last six games of the match to pull out the win, 8-5.The unlikely pair — Marand, the calmer competitor, and Suarez-Malaguti, the lively one — has found common ground in their style of play.“She sets me up really well and finished the points well,” Suarez-Malaguti said. “And with my strength I get to set her up well, too.”And there’s a place for Suarez-Malaguti’s vivacity in the pairing as well.“I’ve always been loud,” Suarez-Malaguti said. “And she likes it.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(03/29/10 4:19am)
Sean DeLaney wanted only to know if he scored.After injuring his shoulder on a goal at the beginning of the third quarter, midfielder DeLaney lay on the field immobilized. But he was more worried about whether his shot went in.“DeLaney’s such a tough kid. He finished that shot and got up and was like, ‘Did I score?,’” freshman Marcus Holman said.But DeLaney’s coaches and fellow players were much more worried about something else as they saw UNC’s leading goal-scorer on his back — the fact that the Tar Heels would be without their top two players for the rest of the game against ACC rival Maryland.With All-America Billy Bitter confined to the sideline after sustaining a leg injury earlier in the week, No. 3 UNC (9-0, 2-0 ACC) was forced to make adjustments to compensate for the loss of its two stars in its 9-7 victory against No. 4 Maryland (6-1, 1-1) on Saturday.“Losing DeLaney is so big, but we always have someone else,” sophomore midfielder Jimmy Dunster said.“We have so much depth and so much talent that we can interchange people.”Though the Tar Heels were unable to utilize their entire lineup, coach Joe Breschi said every player whose number was called transitioned seamlessly into the crippled offense.“We were playing guys in different spots they haven’t played. Some guys hadn’t played all year, and they were stepping in and making plays,” Breschi said. “They didn’t flinch. The next guy just stepped in and made a play.”Breschi was forced to make a number of risky changes throughout the game, including moving midfielder Dunster to attack. Dunster, who said he played attack in high school, recorded one goal and one assist.But it was Holman who stepped up the most, scoring four goals on five shots and recording an assist.“Marcus played great today,” Dunster said. “That’s what we need from everybody — when your number’s called, go out and play 110 percent — and that’s exactly what he did today.”Holman added three groundballs to a performance that led North Carolina to its first 9-0 record since 1993.Despite their newfound producer in Holman, the Tar Heels are anxious to have Bitter and DeLaney back in the starting lineup.The status of DeLaney’s injury is unknown, while Breschi said Bitter is day-to-day. The coaches chose not to play him Saturday because they didn’t want to risk further injury.“He kind of felt better, and we just didn’t want to take a chance,” Breschi said. “It was just the right thing to do, for Billy’s sake and for him getting better for next week.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(03/29/10 4:18am)
North Carolina women’s tennis coach Brian Kalbas understands that being the best can be too easy.The Tar Heels (16-3, 3-0 ACC) were expecting the 7-0 shut out of Maryland (3-7, 0-5) Sunday. Kalbas thus took the opportunity to test his team by subjecting them to unfavorable weather conditions, resting his top player and mixing up doubles partners — and the Tar Heels responded.The doubles team of Sanaz Marand and Gina Suarez-Malaguti struggled early in their match, but not because either of them were playing poorly.“We haven’t really played with each other,” the senior Marand said of her doubles partner. “I think Coach just wanted to try something different.”Kalbas said the lack of experience in playing together was evident in the first seven games in the match, at which point the duo was down 5-2. “They hadn’t played together before or really even practiced together, so I think the first seven games they were making a lot of unforced errors, and they weren’t communicating very well together,” Kalbas said. “They started having a lot more energy and being much more positive and kind of setting each other up much better, so I was really impressed with the way they came back.”Marand and Suarez-Malaguti won the last six games of the match to take the victory 8-5 and give UNC the doubles point.Marand continued her dominance into her singles match, dropping only one game to lead UNC to another victory in which the Tar Heels did not lose a set.Suarez-Malaguti didn’t miss a beat, either. Playing in the No. 4 singles spot for North Carolina, the freshman defeated Maryland’s Jordan Hansbrough by blanking her in straight sets.The Tar Heels recorded their ninth shutout of the year on Sunday and third in three ACC matches, even without top player Katrina Tsang.Kalbas decided to rest Tsang Sunday — and Marand in Saturday’s 7-0 victory against Boston College — to save his top players for tougher competition and allow inexperienced players to get playing time. “We were able to get some other people the opportunity to play,” Kalbas said. “We have such a deep team, and we tried some different combinations in doubles this weekend, so we used it as a way to keep people fresh.”In addition to simulating the loss of a top player, Kalbas forewent the option of playing indoors in Sunday’s cloudy conditions to give his players experience with playing against the elements at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center. “It’s good just getting more matches in these conditions outside,” Tsang said. “It’s been really windy, and we’re just getting used to the outdoor tennis still.”Even with the adverse weather conditions, the Tar Heels lost only 12 games in six singles matches. Kalbas said that Sunday’s commanding victory reinforced his confidence in the Tar Heels’ depth. But even with UNC continuing its comfortable schedule — the Tar Heels will face three straight opponents outside of the top 25 — the players are not going to take their opponents, or Kalbas’s adjustments, lightly.“It’s actually tough because you still have to keep your focus,” Marand said. “Because you never know, anything could happen.”Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.
(03/22/10 4:04am)
With nostalgia running high on senior day, Christine Nguyen turned in a performance to remember.In her last performance at Carmichael Arena, the senior swept all four events on her way to recording a score of 39.575, the fourth highest all-around score in North Carolina history.Nguyen’s historic performance, along with two other personal best all-around performances from teammates Kara Wright and Morgan Evans, led UNC to a dominant 196.225-187.200 victory against Rutgers on Saturday.But the Tar Heels’ success wasn’t just limited to an individual level. The team recorded its best overall score since April 2004 and improved on its top performance this year by two points.“This is the best meet we’ve had in several years,” coach Derek Galvin said. “I wanted the seniors to go out and have the best meet they could possibly have in their final home meet, and they did that.”Even more impressive, North Carolina hit all four events, meaning no falls were recorded in any of the 20 UNC performances in the meet.The Tar Heels started off strong, jumping out to a commanding four-point lead after the first round of events. The strong showing on the vault, Galvin said, set the tone for the Tar Heels’ success on the next three events.Though UNC had a large margin for error from the start of the meet, the Tar Heels refused to ease up on the Scarlet Knights and continued to impress the judges.“If anything, we went harder,” Nguyen said. “We knew we could improve more, and today we just pulled it all together.”With Rutgers’ worst showing of the year, the Tar Heels received their largest margin of victory this season.Saturday’s victory came after a great performance at Maryland on Tuesday, one that Galvin said garnered a lot of confidence for the Tar Heels as they enter the postseason.With two big wins in a row, Galvin said the Tar Heels are peaking at just the right time.UNC will be competing next in the East Atlantic Gymnastics League Championships on Saturday with the NCAA Regional Championships on the horizon.
(02/22/10 4:50am)
The magic number for senior Sanaz Marand was two.Marand dropped only two games on her way to two singles victories in North Carolina’s two matches Saturday against East Carolina (5-3) and UNC-Greensboro (2-1).Her commanding performance led the No. 2 Tar Heels (12-1) to shutout victories in both.But coach Brian Kalbas said Marand, who was also named ACC Co-Player of the Week last week, was more valuable for her intangibles than her dominating play Saturday.“Sanaz really set the tone at the number one spot,” Kalbas said. “She did a great job being a great leader for us.”Marand’s experience and leadership has been just one ingredient in the Tar Heels’ formula for success this year.The Tar Heels are coming off a successful run to the final round of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, which catapulted the team to its highest national ranking in program history.But Kalbas was quick to point out the consequences that come with such success.“Sometimes I worry about being a little overconfident,” Kalbas said. “Teams now have different expectations of us. There’s a little more of a target on us.”But the ranking didn’t faze UNC.In both of the day’s matches, the Tar Heels dismantled each singles opponent in straight sets.“We really came out and had good energy and took care of business,” Kalbas said.The only notable blemish in UNC’s two victories was Jelena Durisic and Sophie Grabinski’s doubles loss in the match against UNC-G.North Carolina won the doubles point, but Durisic said the loss weighed heavily on her mind during singles just minutes after.“I was definitely irritated about it,” Durisic said. “But coach put me in singles, and I just wanted to perform to my potential.”Durisic responded strongly, cruising to a 6-1, 6-2 win over UNC-G’s Stephanie Macfarlane.Saturday’s matches marked the end of a grueling, month-long campaign in which the Tar Heels played 13 matches.The Tar Heels have dropped only one singles match in their five victories at home. North Carolina will have an 11-day break from match play to regroup for its first ranked opponent March 4 at home in No. 64 N.C. State.Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.