Carolina Readies For UCLA In NCAA Quarterfinals

CHAPEL HILL - The top ranked and No. 2 seeded North Carolina women's tennis team is headed to Orlando, Fla., in search of a national title that has eluded one of the most decorated programs in the sport. The Tar Heels will face seventh-seeded UCLA in a quarterfinal match on Friday at noon from the USTA National Campus.

A live stream of the match can be found at USTANationalCampus.com. Tennis Channel will cover more than 50 hours of the team and individual championships, but will not carry Friday's match between the Heels and Bruins.

HOW WE GOT HERE
Top ranked North Carolina held serve at home in the NCAA Regionals with consecutive 4-0 wins over South Carolina State and No. 32 Oklahoma in the opening two rounds. Carolina was pushed by No. 15 Oklahoma State in the NCAA Super Regional, but ultimately did enough for a 4-2 victory over the Cowgirls last Saturday in Chapel Hill.

UCLA advanced to its second straight quarterfinal round by defeating Pac-12 rival Washington, 4-0, last Friday at Los Angeles Tennis Center in the NCAA Super Regionals. The Bruins won by identical 4-0 scores the previous weekend against Northern Arizona and LSU.

Saturday will be the first meeting between the two programs in the NCAA Team Championship and only the fourth all-time.

FAMILIAR FOES
UCLA holds a 6-3 advantage in nine previous head-to-head meetings, however, the Tar Heels won 4-1 in the quarterfinals of the ITA Team Indoor Championship on Feb. 10 in Seattle. Alexa Graham clinched the victory with a court three win over Ayan Broomfield. Jessie Aney and Sara Daavettila also picked up singles wins on courts six and two, respectively.

Carolina has lost all three previous bouts with UCLA in the NCAA Team Championship. The Bruins came out on top, 4-3, in the 2014 national championship match in Athens, Ga. UCLA also won quarterfinal round matches in 2013 at Illinois and in 2015 from Waco, Texas.

Team Capsules

North Carolina (GoHeels.com)
Location: Chapel Hill, N.C.
National Seed: No. 2
Team Ranking: No. 1
Singles/Doubles Rankings: Makenna Jones (5), Alexa Graham (7), Sara Daavettila (20), Cameron Morra (46); Aney/Graham (2), Jones/Morra (12).
Record: 32-1, 14-0 ACC
Bid: Automatic (ACC champion)

North Carolina has reached the NCAA Team Championship quarterfinals for the ninth time in program history, and the seventh time in the last 10 seasons. The Tar Heels carry a 23-match winning streak into Friday's Elite 8 matchup with UCLA.

UNC is making its 21st successive appearance in the NCAA Team Championship and 16th in a row under the leadership of head coach Brian Kalbas. The four-time reigning ACC champions own a 47-20 mark in NCAA competition. A victory over the Bruins would send the program to its third ever Final Four, joining the 2010 and 2014 squads.

Makenna Jones (No. 5 seed), Alexa Graham (No. 7 seed), Sara Daavettila and Cameron Morra will compete in the NCAA Singles Championship, while Aney and Graham (No. 2 seed) and Jones and Morra (5-8 seed) will do battle in the NCAA Doubles Championship upon conclusion of the team championship.

By virtue of earning a national seed, Aney, Graham, Jones and Morra have already earned All-America status for the 2018-19 season.

Morra was named ACC Freshman of the Year and was listed along side Daavettila on the all-league second team, while Graham and Jones were placed on the All-ACC first team.

UCLA (uclabruins.com)
Location: Los Angeles, Calif.
National Seed: No. 7
Team Ranking: No. 7
Singles/Doubles Rankings: Elysia Bolton (32); Jada Hart (45), Abi Altick (120); Gabby Andrews/Ayan Broomfield (5), Elysia Bolton/Jada Hart (11), Abi Altick/Alaina Miller (59)
Record: 21-7, 8-2 Pac 12
Bid: At-Large (Pac 12)

UCLA is one of two programs (Stanford) to qualify for the NCAA Championships each year since the tournament format was adopted 38 years ago. The Bruins have won a pair of national championships in 2008 and 2014. The latter title coming at the expense of the Tar Heels, 4-3, in Athens, Ga. The program's first NCAA championship came as a No. 7 seed and it also posted a runner-up finish out of that position in 2015. UCLA holds an all-time record of 90-35 in NCAA play.

Bolton was named Pac-12 Freshman/Newcomer of the Year and first team All-Pac-12. Hart joined Bolton on the first team and Broomfield landed on the second team.

Andrews, Bolton, Broomfield and Hart will participate in the NCAA singles and doubles competition. Bolton and Hart received at-large selections to the singles field, while the pairs of Andrews-Broomfield and Bolton-Hart were selected to the doubles draw via at-large picks. Andrews-Broomfield earned the No. 4 seed for the doubles tournament.

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Players Mentioned

Jessie Aney

Sara Daavettila

Alexa Graham

Makenna Jones

Cameron Morra