North Carolina
Virginia
#2 Tar Heels Outlast No. 12 Virginia
April 10, 2015 | Women's Tennis
North Carolina (24-0, 12-0 ACC) entered Friday with a two-match lead in the ACC standings over Duke, Miami and Virginia. The victory assures the Tar Heels at least a share of the conference's regular-season title.
Carolina dominated the Cavaliers to win the doubles point, and take the 1-0 lead in the match. Ashley Dai and Kate Vialle won 8-3 on court three, and minutes later on court two, seventh-ranked Jamie Loeb and Caroline Price won 8-4 to secure the Tar Heel win.
Virginia evened the match with a win on court three, but Loeb dominated second-ranked Julia Elbaba on court one to put UNC back in the lead at 2-1. Ranked No. 6 this week by the ITA, Loeb has defeated Elbaba three times this season going back to their match in New York City at the American Collegiate Invitational.
Whitney Kay split the first two sets with Virginia's Skylar Morton, but turned in a 6-0 decision in the third set to put the Tar Heels in the drivers seat up 3-1 over the Cavaliers.
Rookie Cassandra Vazquez, subbing for Ashley Dai in the lineup, clinched the match in dramatic fashion on court six.
After winning the opening set in comfortable fashion at 6-3, the second set would go to a tiebreaker. Vazquez fell behind 4-2, before rallying for an 8-6 win to secure the win.
Virginia (15-5, 8-3) picked up a pair of three-set wins on courts two and five to close out the match.
UNC hosts Duke next Wednesday at 3 p.m.
Players Mentioned
