Two women's tennis freshmen will both advance to the singles main draw

With victories in the pre-qualifying and qualifying rounds of the 2013 Riviera/ITA All-American Championships, North Carolina freshmen tennis players Hayley Carter and Jamie Loeb are playing beyond their years, earning a bid to the main draw.

Assistant coach Sara Anundsen praised the two freshmen’s play through the qualifying round in Westwood, Calif.

“For them to make it all the way through pre-qualifying and into the first two rounds of the qualifiers is definitely making a statement that they are two of the top players in the country, even as freshmen,” she said.

In their first matches of the qualifying round, both Loeb and Carter coasted to victories. Loeb beat Stephanie Wagner of Miami 6-2, 6-0 and Carter defeated Annie Sullivan of Yale 6-1, 6-4.

In the second round of qualifying, Carter continued her dominance by beating Ester Goldfeld of Duke 6-1, 6-2. Loeb’s second-round victory against Abigail Tere-Apisah of Georgia State proved to be more difficult to capture, and she dropped the first set 5-7, but battled back to win the remaining sets 6-2, 6-2.

“It was a very physical and mental battle,” Loeb said. “Even though I lost the first set, I just put that aside and focused on the next two sets.”

Anundsen said Loeb showed focus and resilience in her hard-fought second-round match in the qualifying round.

“(Loeb) competed really well and outcompeted her opponent,” she said.

“(She) just stayed tough and was very coachable and came through,” Anundsen said.

In the third round, Carter and Loeb took 6-0, 6-2 and 6-3, 6-4 victories, respectively.

Carter said her mindset going into the qualifying round was to stay concentrated.

“Just for me, I want to play well and use everything that the coaches have taught me over the past couple of months and just work on my game and try to get through the matches,” she said.

Because Carter and Loeb are freshmen, they are not yet ranked, and each competed in pre-qualifying matches before the qualifying round — a task that fatigued them.

“I think they were a little tired today from playing so much over the weekend but I think that they both fought through some tough times during each of their matches,” Anundsen said.

“They’ve struggled a little bit, but fought back through it. It’s been great.”

Sophomore Whitney Kay also participated in the qualifying round of the tournament, claiming a first-match victory against Rachel Pierson of Virginia 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-2. However, Kay dropped her second match to Maria Belaya of William & Mary 6-4, 6-3, and failed to qualify for the main draw in singles.

In doubles, Carter and Loeb experienced little difficulty through their first two matches. In their first match of the qualifying round, the duo defeated Aleksandra Josifoska and Lucia Batta of UNLV 8-2 and then beat Sofie Oyen and Belinda Woolcock of Florida.

But the two ended their doubles stint with an 8-1 loss at the hands of Goldfeld and Annie Mulholland of Duke, recognizing the higher level of competition that comes with the transition to playing at the collegiate level.

“All the girls in college are really, really good,” Carter said.

“Here, you have to fight for every point, no matter what the score is.”

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