After playing for over four hours Sunday afternoon at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in Chapel Hill, the top-ranked UNC women’s tennis team suffered its first loss of the season so far–falling 4-3 to the No. 7 Vanderbilt Commodores.

The marathon affair marked the first time since 2014 that the Tar Heels (12-1) have dropped a non-conference match at home.

UNC took the doubles point to take an early 1-0 lead on Sunday, but Vanderbilt (7-2) managed to pull off the comeback in singles competition.

Amanda Meyer (6-3, 6-2) and Astra Sharma (6-3, 6-4) each picked up straight sets victories to put the Commodores ahead 2-1 in the team score.

The Tar Heels then rallied to take back the lead with wins from Alexa Graham (6-3, 6-4) and Sara Daavettila (6-3, 4-6, 6-4).

Vanderbilt wouldn’t allow UNC to close the door, however, as the visitors came up big in the clutch–winning a pair of three-set matches to steal the victory away.

Summer Dvorak tied things up with a win over Chloe Ouellet-Pizer (6-4, 5-7, 6-3), which set up a dramatic conclusion between two of the nation’s top 15 players.

It took a tiebreaker to decide the third set–and the overall match–but No. 5 Fernanda Contreras ultimately came out on top over No. 15 Makenna Jones (6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (4)) to seal things up for the Commodores.

Up Next:

ACC play continues this Friday, March 2 for the Tar Heels, as they host Boston College for a match scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.
 

 

 

Photo via UNC Athletics

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