Women's tennis: Women's tennis team shows depth in wins

Coach Brian Kalbas could do no wrong Saturday.

Anyone he put in the lineup for his team's doubleheader against Gardner-Webb and UNC-Greensboro made him look smart trouncing their foes in two collective routs.

A part of their staggering success can be owed to the depth of the team.

Nos. 4 5 and 6 singles usually the spots of inconsistency on the squad last year lost a combined eight games" weighed against 72 wins. Gardner-Webb was only able to take a solitary game off the bottom half of the flight as two of the three won in straight sets.

""(Getting such a team effort) is really satisfying" senior Sophie Grabinski said. I love it — to get in and out of here" when everyone's all business and really focused and serious.

""And whether you're playing or you're off the court"" everyone's doing exactly what they're supposed to be doing.""

The Tar Heels used their team size to their advantage. Eleven different players competed in the two matches"" out of a possible 13 listed on the roster.

Kalbas pointed to the necessity of keeping players sharp and playing the freshmen as the guiding principles in his playing time decisions on Saturday.

""We have so much depth that there's not a lot of difference between our three through 11" Kalbas said. In that second match our four five" six just kind of rolled through them.""

This strength and equality throughout the roster also manifests itself on the practice court.

 Each player must fight to distinguish herself from her teammates to establish a spot on the court on match day.

""Our practices are really competitive"" Shinann Featherston said. We are all getting each other better by playing each other and being competitive.

""It's really exciting to know that as a freshman I have a chance to get better because we have such great players on this team.""

Last year the Tar Heels struggled to put away opponents in the third" fourth fifth and sixth singles spots behind prohibitive first and second singles players Sanaz Marand and Katrina Tsang.

While Tsang and Marand turned in fabulous seasons it did not necessarily translate to team success as the Tar Heels would need other players to step up and build on the two-point foundation that was virtually conceded to the Tar Heels.

This season while only in its nascent stages looks to be a little bit kinder on the Tar Heels' lower flights.

This depth can be traced to a few separate sources — the return of Jelena Durisic from an ACL tear as well as incoming freshmen such as Featherston" who is already ranked 83rd nationally by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association.

""We have the most depth of any team I've ever had."" Kalbas said. ""Not just the most depth" the most diversity of players: lefties righties one-hand backhand slice attacking" counterpunchers.

""So I think this year we have an opportunity to really use that to our advantage. Going into the season you'll see that we will play some different people.""



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