North Carolina
Tennessee
No. 11 Tar Heels Overpower No. 19 Tennessee 5-2
January 21, 2006 | Women's Tennis
Jan. 21, 2006
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - In its first road match of the season, the #11 ranked North Carolina women's tennis team beat 19th-ranked Tennessee on Saturday. In a battle that took five hours and thirty minutes, the Tar Heels came out on top 5-2. The Tar Heels move to a perfect 3-0 record, while Tennessee is now 0-1.
Carolina won the doubles point after taking two of three doubles matches. Playing the No. 1 seed, the #11 Tar Heel tandem of Sara Anundsen and Jenna Long defeated Tennessee's Melissa Schaub and Samantha Orlin, a duo ranked #38 in ITA polls, 8-4. The duo's record now stands at 14-6 for the season. Seeded third, Caitlin Collins and Tanja Markovic downed Tennessee's Ghizela Schutte and Stephanie Harris, 8-4.
In singles action, the Tar Heels won four of six matches. Leading the Tar Heels in the first seed was junior Jenna Long, ranked No. 28 in the ITA polls. Long defeated Tennessee's Victoria Jones, 6-4, 6-0; her season record now stands at 11-3. Also winning singles matches were Sara Anundsen, Charlotte Tansill, and Austin Smith.
Anundsen lost the first set to Tennessee's Melissa Schaub, but battled back to come out on top, winning 5-7, 6-2, 6-0; giving North Carolina its third point. Anundsen moved her record to 9-4.
Seeded sixth, sophomore Charlotte Tansill rallied back to defeat Tennessee's Stephanie Harris, clinching North Carolina's win. Tansill is now 9-6 for the season. Freshman Austin Smith played hard, beating Tennessee's Samantha Orlin, improving her season record to 13-4.
The Tar Heels defeated Tennessee last year 5-2, therefore making this only the third time UNC has beaten Tennessee since 1986.
"The match took five and a half hours from one of the best fighting teams in the country," says head coach Brian Kalbas. "Tennessee is notorious for being a battling team, but we never gave up. We fought back even when we were down and we held our composure."
North Carolina is back in action Jan. 27 and 28 at the Minnesota Court Classic where they will take on Minnesota on the 27th and Oklahoma on the 28th.
#11 North Carolina 5, #19 Tennessee 2
Doubles:
1. #11 Sara Anundsen/Jenna Long (UNC) def. #38 Melissa Schaub/Samantha Orlin (UT) 8-4
2. Blakeley Griffith/Victoria Jones (UT) def. Austin Smith/Meg Fanjoy (UNC) 8-2
3. Caitlin Collins/Tanja Markovic (UNC) def. Ghizela Schutte/Stephanie Harris (UT) 8-4
Order of finish: 2,3,1
Singles:
1. #28 Jenna Long (UNC) def. Victoria Jones (UT) 6-4, 6-0
2. Blakeley Griffith (UT) def. #46 Caitlin Collins (UNC) 6-1, 7-5
3. Sara Anundsen (UNC) def. Melissa Schaub (UT) 5-7, 6-2, 6-0
4. Ghizela Schutte (UT) def. Tanja Markovic (UNC) 7-5, 5-7, 6-7
5. Austin Smith (UNC) def. Samantha Orlin (UT) 7-6, 4-6, 7-6
6. Charlotte Tansill (UNC) def. Stephanie Harris (UT) 5-7, 6-2, 6-1*
Order of finish: 1,2,3,4,6,5
*Clinched the match
Players Mentioned
