Hayley Carter leads UNC women's tennis on, off court

After falling to No. 1 Florida during the final round of the ITA Indoor Championships a little over a week ago, the No. 2 North Carolina women’s tennis team rallied during its first home dual outdoor matches — defeating Elon, 7-0, and Appalachian State, 6-1, on Tuesday at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.

As they have been all season, the Tar Heels (10-1) were led by senior Hayley Carter.

She is ranked third nationally for singles and earned the No. 1 singles spot for the ITA Indoor All-Tournament Team — her teammate, first-year Sara Daavettila, took the No. 2 spot. When Carter found out, she was elated.

“I had one of the biggest wins of my career in the semifinals against Ohio State,” Carter said. “It’s nice to see hard work paying off.”

“I don’t care as much about the titles or the awards or anything like that — more just proving what I’m doing, the work that I’m doing, is paying off. That’s reward enough.”

Despite sporting a right ankle brace in every match, Carter does not hold back when she plays — she took down both of her opponents Tuesday in straight sets. She leads by example as one of the two seniors on the team.

“Right now, what I’m doing well is being more aggressive than I ever have been ... ” she said. “I tend to be a little defensive and kinda get far behind the baseline and all that. My coach and I have been working on it for four years now, and it’s something I need to continue to improve.”

Carter is always found with people, laughing and making sure everyone feels good. In person, it is hard to tell she is the winningest women’s tennis player in UNC history.

First-year Alexa Graham feels fortunate to play alongside her senior teammate.

“She’s just inspired me to look at every match as a privilege to be out here, playing for Carolina, wearing Carolina Blue,” Graham said. “We’re all really lucky to be a part of such a great team with a great coaching staff at such a great university.”

Carter looks up to head coach Brian Kalbas. To the senior, this fatherly figure has become the ultimate person — a mentor and friend — who believes in her more than she believes in herself. And he could not be more proud.

“She’s been such a warrior for us,” he said. “She plays every top player of every team for us, and everyone that she plays against will be gunning for her. They have nothing to lose.”

“She’s the most decorated, most successful UNC women’s tennis player of all time. Players are going to come at her with their best game.”

This Tar Heel leader and captain may have a spot in the history books, but she wants her legacy to be more than statistics and accolades.

“As someone who did every possible thing she could do to be the best student, the best athlete, the best member of the Chapel Hill community,” Carter said, “I try to live the UNC student-athlete experience to the fullest. And I fortunately, honestly, was able to do that. I hope that the freshmen can learn from me and keep the culture going here at UNC.”

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