North Carolina
Marshall
No. 8 Tar Heels Roll Past No. 61 Marshall
January 28, 2012 | Women's Tennis
Jan. 28, 2012
CHAPEL HILL --- No. 8 North Carolina moved to within one win of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships Saturday when the Tar Heels made quick work of No. 61 Marshall, 7-0, at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center. UNC will face No. 51 Brown Sunday at 1 p.m. for a spot at the national event in Charlottesville, Va., Feb. 10-13.
Only a brief power outage slowed Carolina (4-1) on the afternoon, as doubles play was delayed about 15 minutes after the lights went out late in the point. Shinann Featherston and Zoe De Bruycker had already defeated Ellie Ball and Karlyn Timko, 8-2, on court two, and Gina Suarez-Malaguti and Laura Slater were one game away from clinching on court three.
Once full lighting was restored, Slater and Suarez-Malaguti quickly finished out their win, 8-1, to give Carolina the doubles point. Marshall (1-2) claimed its only win of the day on court one, as No. 35 Maria Voscekova and Dominika Zaprazna defeated No. 48 Haley Hemm and Lauren McHale, 8-5.
Singles was all UNC, as the hosts did not drop a set in sweeping the six matches. Featherston was first to finish, posting a comprehensive 6-1, 6-1, victory over Ball on court three.
Suarez-Malaguti and Price clinched next, just minutes apart, to give Carolina the dual victory. Suarez-Malaguti lost just two games in a 6-0, 6-2 victory over Kristina Koprcina, while No. 55 Price easily handled Kara Kucin, 6-1, 6-2.
No. 16 McHale made it 5-0 on court two with a 6-0, 6-1 win over Voscekova, and No. 44 De Bruycker pushed it to 6-nil with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Zaprazna on court one.
That left Tessa Lyons to complete the sweep and the sophomore did so in impressive fashion, coming from behind in both sets to post a 7-5, 6-3 win.
Carolina will now face No. 51 Brown after the Bears sprung a 4-1 upset of No. 34 VCU earlier in the day. Marshall and VCU will meet at 9:30 a.m. in a consolation match.
Sunday's UNC-Brown winner will join 14 other site winners and host Virginia at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships in Charlottesville, Feb. 10-13.
No. 8 North Carolina 7, No. 61 Marshall 0
Doubles
1. #35 Voscekova/Zaprazna (M) def. #48 Hemm/McHale (UNC), 8-5
2. Featherston/De Bruycker (UNC) def. Ball/Timko (M), 8-2
3. Slater/Suarez-Malaguti (UNC) def. Koprcina/Kucin (M), 8-1
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1
Singles
1. #44 Zoe De Bruycker (UNC) def. Dominika Zaprazna (M), 6-4, 6-0
2. #16 Lauren McHale (UNC) def. Maria Voscekova (M), 6-0, 6-1
3. Shinann Featherston (UNC) def. Ellie Ball (M), 6-1, 6-1
4. #55 Caroline Price (UNC) def. Kara Kucin (M), 6-1, 6-2
5. Gina Suarez-Malaguti (UNC) def. Kristina Koprcina (M), 6-0, 6-2
6. Tessa Lyons (UNC) def. Karlyn Timko (M), 7-5, 6-2
Order of finish: 3, 5, 4*, 2, 1, 6
Players Mentioned
