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Tar Heel teams had a rare bad weekend, which actually is good.
I ran into Bubba Cunningham Sunday evening, taking his wife Tina to what turned out to be a consolation dinner at Hawthorne & Wood.
“How ya doing?” I asked.
“Tough weekend,” he said.
Later, I looked to see exactly what he meant, and it was more than tough. On the fields, courts and course, it was ugly.
The baseball team, which has yet to find the national footing that Mike Fox laid down, was swept at home by Boston College, losing leads in two of the three games. The 18th-ranked Diamond Heels are not supposed to lose three straight in Chapel Hill to a team from Boston, not named the Red Sox.
The top-ranked and undefeated women’s tennis team, coached brilliantly for years by Brian Kalbas, was the heavy favorite to win the ACC championship in Cary but lost 4-1 in the finals to, of all opponents, N.C. State, in prep for NCAA tournament play.
Also in nearby Cary, the fourth-seeded men’s tennis team lost the doubles point to Florida State and the quarterfinals match, 4-2, after a double-bye as Sam Paul’s team also awaits an NCAA tournament bid, which is not assured at 17-8 overall.
The No. 15 men’s lacrosse team was not supposed to upset top-ranked Notre Dame in South Bend and lost 16-9 after being outscored 8-1 in the decisive second-half stretch.
The men’s golf team, ranked No. 2 heading to the ACC Championship at the Country Club of North Carolina in Pinehurst, managed only to shoot even par the last two days and finished sixth after failing to advance to match play.
On the thinner good side of things, women’s softball crept closer to a .500 record by winning both games of a doubleheader to sweep the series at N.C. State. It was the Tar Heels’ first three-game sweep against an ACC opponent since 2019.
As Bubba and Tina left for their table, I made some silly parting comment about being disappointed is expected when you have an athletic department as successful as Carolina’s has been for decades.
“That happens when you are supposed to win ‘em all,” I said.
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Jeffrey A. Camarati
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