UNC women's tennis uses depth to beat Winthrop, ECU

In preparation for the remainder of the outdoor season, the North Carolina women’s tennis team hosted a doubleheader against Winthrop (5-7) and East Carolina (7-3) Saturday, showing off depth while winning both in dominating fashion.

“We were trying to get as many matches outside in the wind to try to get used to it,” sophomore Caroline Price said.

Following a predominantly indoor part of the season, the Tar Heels will play most of their remaining matches outside in the spring.

Coach Brian Kalbas said the match against Winthrop was the team’s second outdoors this season.

The Winthrop match was held outside as scheduled, but cold weather forced the ECU match inside the Cone-Kenfield tennis complex.

No. 1 UNC won both matches 7-0 to improve to 12-1. After dropping a doubles match against Winthrop, UNC didn’t lose another match for the whole day, recording straight set victories in all singles play.

Though UNC wasn’t going up against ranked competition, the Tar Heels still took a lot out of the doubleheader.

“We gave them the respect they deserved,” freshman Ashley Dai said. “We came out not really thinking about them and just focusing on us and seeing how we could get better.”

The team flexed its muscles and showed its depth by playing different doubles combinations and moving players around in singles play.

“We have a lot of depth, and we have a lot of players that can step in be successful for us,” Kalbas said.

Freshman Kate Vialle and junior Laura Slater, not usually in the singles lineup, gained more game experience.

“We got to play some different doubles combinations that we’ve wanted to play,” Kalbas said. “A match like that gives you the ability to get some players in that hadn’t really played.”

One of the biggest beneficiaries of these matches was Price, ranked No. 25 nationally. Normally the fifth seed in singles for UNC, Price competed at the second and third seeds in the doubleheader.

“Caroline’s, by our standards, our No. 5 player most of the season, but she’s ranked 25 in the country,” Kalbas said. “She can play one for a lot of teams.”

Kalbas said he was happy with the mental focus that the team showed, even going so far as to call this team the most competitive and tough team he’s seen in his tenure at UNC.

UNC hasn’t dropped a match since losing to then-No. 2 Florida nearly two weeks ago, giving the team a look at just how good it can be.

“We’ve had glimpses of what we can do,” Price said. “Honestly, I don’t think we’ve played to our potential yet.”

Contact the desk editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.