Doubles key to victory

North Carolina freshman Tessa Lyons crushed an unreturnable serve past Elon’s Jordan Johnston in a women’s tennis doubles match on Saturday.

“I can’t hit Mach Five,” Johnston helplessly said to the Elon section of the stands as she shrugged her shoulders.

North Carolina’s 6-foot-2 senior Jelena Durisic shot a smile at her doubles partner, slapped hands with her and then got back into ready position.

Back to business.

The freshman/senior doubles duo, which usually plays at No. 2 doubles court, were moved to No. 1 for the Elon match and overpowered the Phoenix’s first doubles team, 8-3.

“The biggest thing with those guys in No. 1 doubles is to impose their aggressive game on their opponents without letting them reset or letting them off the hook,” women’s tennis coach Brian Kalbas said.

Lyons and Durisic moved to the top court for the Elon match. Kalbas wanted to rest his No. 1 doubles team but said all of his players are pretty much even, and there is not much of a pecking order right now.

Lyons and Durisic played — and won — at their usual No. 2 spot against Winthrop earlier in the day.

“It’s the beginning of the season, so we got the first nerves out,” Durisic said.

“I’m excited because I’m the only senior, and it’s a young team. Hopefully, we can continue with the success we had last year.”

Durisic said she and Lyons played together during the fall semester and won a couple of tournaments.

“She is a freshman and I’m a senior, so somehow it mixes well,” Durisic said.

Durisic and Lyons use the “I formation,” which is a familiar formation within the UNC tennis program. The server stands next to the center of the court while the net player ducks down at the middle of the net until the ball is served.

The net player flashes a signal before the serve to let her partner know which direction she will dart once the ball is served.

“It’s important for them to be physical with their style of play,” Kalbas said.

“They got off to a slow start, but once they kind of got comfortable, they started moving better and started dictating play a little bit better.”

Durisic continued her dominance of Johnston in a quick and easy singles match, while Lyons used a full arsenal of shots in her singles match to close out the doubleheader for the Tar Heels.

“We got along great — on and off the court — so that definitely helps a lot, and we just work together to try and set each other up,” Lyons said.

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