Playing its first match in 11 days, the UNC women’s tennis team took the court at Notre Dame as the No. 1 team in the country, and proved their ranking right in a 6-1 win over the Fighting Irish Friday afternoon.

Notre Dame scored its only win in the match by taking the doubles point. It’s the second straight match in which the Tar Heels have dropped the doubles point, but just like the first time, Carolina rallied in singles.

It would take a little longer than expected, though. The Fighting Irish took the fight to Carolina in the early going, winning the first sets in four of the six singles matches. Anika Yarlagadda and Cameron Morra were the only Tar Heels to escape their opening sets unscathed, and both would win their matchups in straight sets to give UNC a 2-1 lead.

Elizabeth Scotty, Fiona Crawley, Carson Tanguilig and Alle Sanford each found themselves with work to do. Carolina would need at least two of them to come back from a set down to stay unbeaten in 2022. Incredibly, all four rallied to win their matches. Scotty, Crawley and Tanguilig were dominant in sets two and three, with each dropping just 14 games combined across their six sets of action. Sanford had to fight through a tiebreaker in her second set to stay alive, and would use that momentum to cruise through the third for a 6-2 win. She was the last Tar Heel to finish, and punctuated a 6-1 UNC win. Despite the lopsided scoreline, the match was anything but.

The Tar Heels are now 12-0 in the 2022 spring season and 1-0 in ACC play. They will stay on the road this weekend, traveling to Louisville on Sunday. The team will then return to Chapel Hill for a four-match homestand, which begins with a visit from Virginia Tech on March 5.

 

Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications/Jeffrey A. Camarati


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