North Carolina
Virginia
UNC Falls In Semis To Cavaliers, First Loss Of Season
April 25, 2015 | Women's Tennis
This is only the second time this season that Carolina has dropped the doubles point, the first time being against Duke in the final match of the regular season.
#30 Hayley Carter and Whitney Kay dominated in their doubles match, taking the early lead and using their crafty cut shots to win 8-2 over Nauta and Mercer.
The #11 duo of Caroline Price and Jamie Loeb could never find a rhythm Saturday, dropping their doubles match to unranked Morton and Elbaba 8-2.
All eyes turned to Court 3 with #53 Ashley Dai and Kate Vialle against Collins and Epstein. The match stayed on serve until UVa broke Vialle to take the 6-4 lead. Yet after forcing deuce on Collins' serve, UNC forced a UVa error to go back on serve. UVa then broke Dai's serve in the next game, giving UVa the 7-5 advantage. After taking an early 30-0 lead, a few unforced errors and long volleys went in UVa's favor, giving Collins/Epstein the 8-5 win and the doubles point.
Needing some momentum after dropping the doubles point, Carolina came out of the break looking for strong singles results.
#112 Kay did just that at the beginning of the first set but ultimately fell to Skylar Morton 3-6, 2-6. That win on court 4 gave Virginia the 2-0 advantage.
#20 Price cruised against #36 Stephanie Nauta in the first set, dropping her 6-1. Nauta showed more fight in the second set, but Price ultimate came out on top with a 6-1, 6-4 win to cut the lead in half.
#15 Carter also had trouble in the first set, losing 6-1 to #19 Danielle Collins. She rebounded in the second set, keeping it on serve, but ultimately fell 1-6, 5-7, giving Virginia a 3-1 lead.
#115 Dai battled in the first set but ultimately fell 6-3 to Cassie Mercer. It came down to match point in the second set, and Dai couldn't track down a deep shot by Mercer, losing 6-3, 6-1, giving Virginia the upset.
#7 Loeb struggled with low shots in her first set, dropping it 6-2 to #5 Julia Elbaba. Loeb fought back in the second, fighting through three match points before the set was ended when the Cavaliers clinched the victory.
Vialle had a strong showing in her first set, dropping Maci Epstein 6-2 in the first set. Epstein responded by blanking Vialle 6-0 in the second set to force a third. This match went unfinished.
Carolina will find out its NCAA Tournament seeding Wednesday after 6 p.m.
Players Mentioned
