University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Arizona State
Women's Tennis Advances to NCAA Quarterfinals
May 16, 2002 | Women's Tennis
May 16, 2002
Palo Alto, Calif. ------ The seventh-ranked University of North Carolina women's tennis continued its impressive run in the NCAA Tournament with a 4-1 victory over No. 10 Arizona State on Thursday.
Freshman Kendall Cline clinched the match for UNC with a 6-2, 6-1 win at the No. 6 singles position. Carolina improves to 25-4 and will face tournament host Stanford in the quarterfinals on Friday at 2 p.m. EST. Prior to this season, Carolina had never advanced past the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament.
"Give North Carolina credit --- they played better than we did today," said Arizona State head coach Sheila McInerney. "They also beat us earlier in the season, and are the better team."
Down one match in doubles, the Tar Heels battled back to win the doubles point with victories from Aniela Mojzis and Cline at the No. 2 position and Lee Bairos and Kate Pinchbeck at No. 3 doubles. Arizona State's duo of Adria Engel and Dora Krstulovic took the No. 1 doubles to give the Sun Devils an early advantage. Cline and Mojzis rallied from a 4-2 deficit to win 9-7 and Bairos and Pinchbeck pulled away late for an 8-6 win.
"The doubles point was very important today, and we were very pleased to win that point," said UNC head coach Jen Callen. "We then carried the momentum from doubles over to singles. Everyone fought hard, and we're looking forward to playing tomorrow."
Pinchbeck, ranked 14th in the country, upped her singles record to 27-1 with a quick 6-1, 6-0 victory over Krstulovic at No. 2 singles to give the Tar Heels a 2-0 advantage. Carolina earned another point when Rotondi notched her 18th-consecutive win with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Mhariri Brown.
Arizona State's Lauren Colalillo won the Sun Devils only point, beating Bairos 6-3, 6-1 at No. 5 singles.
The win marked the second time this season that the Tar Heels had defeated the Sun Devils. Earlier this season, Carolina beat ASU, 4-3, in Tempe. Carolina and Stanford will meet on Friday for the first time in school history.
Doubles
No. 1 Adria Engel/Dora Krstulovic (ASU) def. Marlene Mejia/Julie Rotondi (UNC), 8-2
No. 2 Kendall Cline/Aniela Mojzis (UNC) def. Mhairi Brown/Cindy Sureephong, 9-7
No. 3 Lee Bairos/Kate Pinchbeck (UNC) def. Lauren Colalillo/Megan Yeats, 8-6
Order of finish: 1, 3, 2 (UNC wins doubles point)
Singles
No. 1 Marlene Mejia (UNC) vs. Adria Engel (ASU), suspended
No. 2 Kate Pinchbeck (UNC) def. Kora Krstulovic (ASU), 6-1, 6-0
No. 3 Julie Rotondi (UNC) def. Mhairi Brown (ASU), 6-0, 6-1
No. 4 Aniela Mojzis (UNC) vs. Cindy Sureephong (ASU), suspended
No. 5 Lauren Colalillo (ASU) def. Lee Bairos (UNC), 6-3, 6-1
No. 6 Kendall Cline (UNC) def. Joslynn Burkett (ASU), 6-2, 6-1*
*Clinching match
Order of finish: 2, 3, 5, 6
