All eyes are generally fixed on the basketball hardwood this time of year in Chapel Hill, but a litany of other top-notch UNC sports programs are gearing up for their own chances at ACC and national glory.
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The No. 4 UNC women’s tennis team started off its dual match campaign with a pair of victories over in-state foes.
Last weekend, the Tar Heels decisively served past both Elon and Appalachian State, dropping only one match in the process.
The Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center will play host to one of the nation’s top players. Sophomore Jamie Loeb, currently ranked No. 8 in the nation in singles, spent much of her freshman year sitting atop the rankings after a superb 53-4 season individually.
UNC winning ITA Indoor National Title. (UNC Athletics)
After falling just short of a national championship in Athens, Georgia a year ago, the Tar Heels, armed with a deep and talented lineup that also includes No. 22 Caroline Price and No. 31 Hayley Carter, could go one better in 2015.
Head coach Brian Kalbas’ Carolina squad will return to action on Jan. 24-25 to face Minnesota and Boston College or LSU.
As for their male counterparts, they’ll be aiming for big things this year as well. The Tar Heel men start off their campaign in the No. 6 position nationally in the preseason rankings released just last week.
UNC returns five starters from last year’s record-breaking team that reached the NCAA quarterfinals. In addition, Carolina also welcomes back senior Esben Hess-Oleson, who sat out last season with an injury, but made significant contributions in previous years.
The Tar Heels return to the courts to open their regular season with home doubleheaders on Jan. 16 and 19.
On the lacrosse field, UNC will yet again be among the nation’s best.
The women’s team begins the year No. 2 in the preseason polls and leads a loaded field in the ACC with five league schools represented in the top seven of the rankings.
With a national championship the goal, it appears the Tar Heels may actually have the talent to do it, with ten UNC women earning spots on the 2015 Face-Off Yearbook preseason All-America team, published by Inside Lacrosse.
UNC Men’s Lacrosse claimed the 2013 ACC Championship. (UNC Athletics)
As for the men’s lacrosse squad, they check in a few notches lower than the women, but not by much. The Tar Heels were voted as the sixth-best team in the NCAA by the nation’s coaches.
But Carolina will get its chance to prove if it should be placed higher with games against all of the top five-ranked teams looming on its schedule.
Coach Joe Breschi’s team opens its season Feb. 7 at home against Furman.
Although overshadowed by their more famous classmates on the basketball court, at a place like UNC, every sports program seemingly shares the same collective goal – to win a national championship.
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