North Carolina
Miami
No. 6 Carolina Rallies To Beat No. 3 Miami In ACC Opener
March 9, 2011 | Women's Tennis
March 9, 2011
CORAL GABLES, Fla. --- No. 6 North Carolina opened Atlantic Coast Conference play in dramatic fashion, rallying from 3-1 down to defeat No. 3 Miami, 4-3, Wednesday afternoon at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center. Carolina won the doubles point courtesy of two tiebreaks then got singles victories from Gina Suarez-Malaguti, Jelena Durisic and Haley Hemm to clinch the match.
On a windy afternoon in South Florida, the crucial doubles point would come down to tiebreaks on courts one and three. Miami (10-3, 3-1 ACC) opened the match with an 8-2 victory from Gabriela Mejia and Melissa Bolivar on court two.
At No. 1 doubles, No. 5 Shinann Featherston and Lauren McHale were in command early, racing out to a 4-1 lead over No. 27 Bianca Eichkorn and Anna Bartenstein. On court three, Suarez-Malaguti and Zoe De Bruycker found themselves quickly down 4-0 to Danielle Mills and Brittany Dubins.
But in both matches, the trailing team evened the score at 4, and both courts would ultimately be decided in a tiebreak. UNC, which has been on the losing end of several crucial tiebreaks so far in 2011, took both Wednesday by 7-4 scores to gain the first point of the dual.
The host Hurricanes, who entered the day with just five home losses since 2005, evened the score at 1 with Eickhorn's 6-2, 6-0 victory over De Bruycker at No. 1 singles. UM then moved ahead 3-1 with wins by Bartenstein on court two and Mejia on court five.
Carolina needed each of the final three matches to take the dual, and Durisic got the Tar Heels back in the scoring column with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 win over Bolivar at No. 4. The Torrance, Calif., senior went up a break at 3-1 in the final set but saw Bolivar break back to get the match back on serve. With Bolivar serving to stay in the match at 4-5, Durisic got one last break to get the key win.
Mere moments after Durisic make it 3-2, Hemm pulled Carolina even with a 6-4, 7-6 (4) victory over Dubins at No. 6, leaving it to court three to decide the match.
Suarez-Malaguti took the opening set from Mills in a tiebreak and Mills served to stay in the match at 5-6 in the second set. The Pembroke Pines, Fla., sophomore saw Mills spoil a pair of match points before having two ad-points of her own to force another tiebreak. But Suarez-Malaguti got it back to deuce on both occasions, and hit consecutive clean winners, including a cross-court backhand on match point, to give Carolina a thrilling victory.
"Miami came into this match on a roll, they were playing with a lot of confidence," head coach Brian Kalbas said. "This was one of our first outdoor matches and it was really windy throughout the day.
"I just thought our girls competed extremely hard and I'm really proud of how hard they fought. I think getting the doubles point the way we did gave us a lot of momentum going into singles."
Carolina will have a day off to conclude their trip to Florida before returning home to face yet another top-5 opponent. The Tar Heels will host No. 4 Michigan Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center. Admission is free.
No. 6 North Carolina 4, No. 3 Miami 3
Doubles
1. #5 Featherston/McHale (UNC) def. #27 Eichkorn/Bartenstein (UM), 9-8 (4)
2. Mejia/Bolivar (UM) def. Durisic/Lyons (UNC), 8-2
3. De Bruycker/Suarez-Malaguti (UNC) def. Mills/Dubins (UM), 9-8 (4)
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3*
Singles
1. #10 Bianca Eichkorn (UM) def. #14 Zoe De Bruycker (UNC), 6-2, 6-0
2. #75 Anna Bartenstein (UM) def. #57 Shinann Featherston (UNC), 6-3, 6-4
3. Gina Suarez-Malaguti (UNC) def. Danielle Mills (UM), 7-6, 7-5
4. Jelena Durisic (UNC) def. Melissa Bolivar (UM), 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
5. Gabriela Mejia (UM) def. #105 Lauren McHale (UNC), 6-4, 6-2
6. Haley Hemm (UNC) def. Brittany Dubins (UM), 6-4, 7-6 (4)
Order of finish: 1, 2, 5, 4, 6, 3*
