Women’s tennis gears up for match against Florida

North Carolina women’s tennis will try to avenge last season’s loss to Florida in the NCAA Tournament final four in a top five matchup at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center on Saturday.

Coming off a win against No. 12 Notre Dame on Saturday, the No. 5 Tar Heels will now face No. 2 Florida. Both teams are undefeated.

The Tar Heels improved to 5-0 Saturday on the season after beating their second top 25 opponent, the Fighting Irish. The Tar Heels also beat No. 15 ranked Georgia last weekend in the ITA Kickoff Weekend.

New NCAA rankings come out on Feb. 8, and the top five will likely remain the same. Defending national champion Stanford sits atop the polls and is also 4-0. Baylor and UCLA round out the top five at number three and four, respectively.

Florida stands at 7-0 on the season after taking care of Winthrop 7-0 on Jan. 30th. The Gators ended the Tar Heels season last year in the national semifinals 4-0. That was the second time that Florida beat the Tar Heels in 2010.

The Tar Heels also lost in Gainesville last March 6-1. In a postgame interview at the Notre Dame match, head coach Brian Kalbas didn’t hesitate to bring up two of the Tar Heels five losses of the 2010 season at the hands of Florida.

“We’re just going to keep working this week. Keep getting a little better and practice hard,” Kalbas said.

At this point, Kalbas said there is no solidification of the lineup.

“We have such a deep team. We really go nine deep,” Kalbas said. “And we have confidence that anybody can step in at any time. It’s important that our players keep pushing to get in the lineup and keep pushing to get better.”

The Gators feature four players in the top 30 Intercollegiate Tennis Association women’s national singles rankings, including sophomore Allie Will who is ranked at No. 7.

The Tar Heels highest ranked singles player is Zoe De Bruycker at No. 13.

Will and Sofie Oyen make up the No. 1 ranked doubles team in the nation according to the ITA.

Junior Shinann Featherston and sophomore Lauren McHale will likely face Will and Oyen in doubles on Saturday.

Junior Haley Hemm, who is undefeated in singles dual matches on the season, said she will do this week what she and the team does every week in practice.

In a stretch that started with Georgia on Jan. 30 and ends with a match at Northwestern, the Tar Heels will have played at least four teams in the top 25 and probably more depending on what happens in the ITA weekend indoor championships in Virginia on Feb. 18-21.

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.