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UNC has another chance to show the tennis and golf worlds what it has.
The Class of 2024 is graduating this weekend, but two of the Tar Heels’ nationally ranked athletic teams aren’t going anywhere. Women’s tennis, the defending NCAA champions, take another step toward defending their title, while the men’s golf team can climb that same pedestal.
The women netters defeated Navy and Wisconsin rather easily last weekend at the new Chewning Tennis Center and earned the right to host the Super Regional Friday against 13th-ranked Texas A&M. The match begins with three doubles at 6 pm, followed by six singles at their new home just off campus. The winner advances to the national quarterfinals in Stillwater, Oklahoma, next week.
Nearby at the refurbished Finley Golf Club, beginning Monday, the top-seeded men are vying to be one of five teams qualifying for the NCAA Championship, where they finished tied for third last year last year. UNC hosts 12 other teams in the Chapel Hill regional, from where five and the top scorer from the non-advancing teams will reach the championship in Carlsbad, California.
Last week, in the tennis regional, Brian Kalbas’ touted squad recorded his 770th career victory. He has built the women’s program into a true juggernaut behind a bevy of stars led by Fiona Crawley, who made it into the main draw of the U.S. Open last summer and will try to do it again this year.
UNC is looking for its fourth consecutive undefeated season at home with at least a 15-0 record. In COVID-shortened 2020, the Heels were 11-0 at home and went 17-0 in 2019.
Crawley may be matched up with Texas A&M’s Mary Stoiana, a teammate on the U.S. squad that won the Gold Medal at the Master’U BNP Paribas international tournament last December. Entering the Super Regional, the Tar Heels are 165-58 in singles and 54-6 in doubles. Tickets at the Chewning gate cost $10.
Admission is free at Finley (free parking is available at adjacent lots with signage.) The revamped par-70 course has been closed this week and is in pristine condition to welcome the top collegiate competition in the country. Spectators will notice that the old back 9 is now the front 9 with one new par 5 and two new par 3s. The Tar Heels are led by five All-ACC players, brothers David and Maxwell Ford, Peter Fountain, Dylan Menante and Austin Greaser under ACC Coach of the Year Andrew DiBitetto.
Hopefully, the weather will cooperate to showcase the $13 million renovation.
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Jeffrey A. Camarati
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.
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Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.
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