In a battle for positioning atop the ACC women’s tennis standings Friday night in Durham, the fourth-ranked Duke Blue Devils rallied for a 5-2 victory over the No. 1 Tar Heels to move into sole possession of first place.

After UNC (22-3, 11-2 ACC) outlasted Duke (20-2, 12-1 ACC) to win the doubles point–a point that required a tight 7-6 victory from the top-ranked doubles pairing of Alexa Graham and Jessie Aney–the Blue Devils reeled off wins in five of the six singles matches to take the match.

A trio of victories in straight sets helped Duke jump out to a 3-1 lead, before taking the next two matches in three sets apiece.

On Court Three, Duke’s Kaitlyn McCarthy defeated Graham 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 to hand the Tar Heel standout her first singles loss of the spring.

UNC, meanwhile, finally got back on the scoreboard after a thrilling three-set win (7-5, 1-6, 7-6) on Court One by No. 11 Makenna Jones over No. 4 Samantha Harris.

It was too little, too late, however–as Duke had already clinched the win and the ACC regular season title by that point in time.

Up Next:

The Tar Heels close out their regular season on Sunday, when they host Pittsburgh for Senior Day at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in Chapel Hill. That match is set to begin at 1 p.m.

 

 

Photo via UNC Athletics

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