It was a fun day to be a Carolina fan at Chapel Hill’s Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center Saturday, as both the No. 1 women’s tennis team and No. 15 men’s tennis team won their respective NCAA Tournament matches. The women’s team advanced to Sunday’s second round, while the men are through to the round of 16.

The No. 1 women dominated from start to finish in their match against South Carolina State. UNC clinched the doubles point handily, with the team of Cameron Morra and Reilly Tran winning 6-0 and Alle Sanford and Carson Tanguilig winning 6-1.

The singles portion of the match was over quickly, as Carolina won in straight sets in the first three matches to clinch the win. The trio of Anika Yarlagadda, Kacie Harvey and Sanford dropped just two games across their three matches, with Yarlagadda winning 6-0, 6-0.

It was a clinical afternoon for the Tar Heels, who will face South Carolina in the second round on Sunday at 2 p.m.

The men took the court later in the afternoon, looking to advance to the round of 16 after defeating Navy in the first round on Friday.

Like the women before them, the men took the doubles point, though it was a much tighter affair. Benjamin Sigouin and Peter Murphy won the first doubles match in a tiebreaker, while Casey Kania and Logan Zapp did the same soon after to give Carolina the doubles point and a 1-0 edge.

Sigouin followed up his doubles win with a straight sets win in singles, 6-3, 6-4, putting the Tar Heels up 2-0. Zapp fell in straight sets in his singles match, but Brian Cernoch followed that up with a 7-6, 6-3 win to put Carolina within a point of advancing.

It was Murphy who delivered the dagger, winning 7-6, 6-4 to give UNC the match. With the win, Carolina is through to the round of 16, where it will face No. 2 overall seed and defending national champions Florida next week.

 

Featured image via UNC Women’s Tennis on Twitter


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