The awards just keep on coming for UNC’s Fiona Crawley.

The two-time national champion and wild card entry into the U.S. Open main doubles draw was named the ITA National Player of the Year and the Honda Sport Award winner for women’s tennis. This comes just days after Crawley was named ACC Women’s Tennis Player of the Year. Crawley is the 10th ACC Player of the Year in program history, and she was one of six Tar Heels to receive All-ACC recognition.

In addition, Anika Yarlagadda was named the National Most Improved Senior and Brian Kalbas was named the Wilson/ITA National Coach of the Year.

Crawley is the second Tar Heel to win the Honda Award in the 2022-23 academic year, joining Erin Matson in field hockey. She’s also the second Tar Heel in the last three seasons to win the award in women’s tennis. Sara Daavettila earned the accolade in 2021.

Reese Brantmeier (first team), Carson Tanguilig (second team) and Anika Yarlagadda (third team) each received All-ACC honors with Crawley in singles, while Tanguilig, Brantmeier and Elizabeth Scotty joined Crawley on the doubles first team. It’s the same quartet which faced off in the NCAA Doubles Championship final, won by Crawley and Tanguilig.

This is Crawley’s third time earning All-ACC recognition, but the first time she’s made the first team. Crawley’s 2022-23 season is one of the best individual seasons by a Tar Heel in any sport in school history: she won the NCAA team championship and doubles championship as well as three ITA titles (team indoor, All-American singles and the fall singles national championship). Crawley finished the fall season with a perfect 17-0 record in singles, dropping just two sets across those 17 matches.

In the spring, Crawley led all Division 1 players with 46 singles victories and ended the year as the top-ranked singles player. She won each of her six singles matches during Carolina’s run through the NCAA Tournament without dropping a single set.

Brantmeier, a true freshman, ended the season with a 22-4 singles record and was named an ITA All-American. She was named ACC Freshman of the Week four times. Tanguilig was also named an ITA All-American and named to the NCAA All-Tournament team. She won the clinching point in the championship match against NC State and will compete with Crawley at the U.S. Open in doubles.

Scotty joined Brantmeier and Tanguilig as an ITA All-American and like Tanguilig was named to the All-Tournament team. She received both ITA and NCAA All-American honors. Yarlagadda ended the season with an 18-1 singles record in dual matches, including a spotless 9-0 mark against ACC opponents.

This is Kalbas’ third time winning the National Coach of the Year award. In 2023, he led the Tar Heels to their seventh ITA indoor national title and their first-ever NCAA team title. He’s one of four Division 1 coaches to reach the 700 win plateau and owns an .839 conference winning percentage, the highest in the history of ACC women’s tennis.

 

Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Jeffrey A. Camarati

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