UNC women’s tennis capture elusive ACC title with thrilling win

CARY — Less than 24 hours after clinching second-seeded North Carolina’s semifinal match at the ACC women’s tennis tournament, UNC junior Shinann Featherston was once again the center of attention against fifth-seeded Florida State.

This time, a chance at North Carolina’s first ACC championship since 2002 hung in the balance.

And once again, Featherston delivered, trumping Noemie Scharle 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (4) to secure the 4-3 win and the title.

After losing the doubles point for the first time in this year’s tournament, the Tar Heels needed wins from four of their six singles players to prevail.

“I had each person look me in the eye and tell me they were going to give me everything they had, and leave it all on the court,” UNC coach Brian Kalbas said.

When four Tar Heels out of six took their first set, the team gained some breathing room, but the Tar Heels (22-5) once again found themselves gasping for air as the teams became tied at three.

Though Scharle led Featherston 5-3 in the third set, Featherston forced a 6-6 tiebreaker to win 7-4 on a return from Scharle that landed just beyond the baseline.

“My coach told me, ‘We need you Shinann,’” Featherston said. “I didn’t know what was going on in the other courts, but I just figured it was going to come down to me.”

Last year as the No. 1 seed in the tournament, the Tar Heels fell to No.7-seed Georgia Tech in the final.

“We were the ultimate favorite,” senior Jelena Durisic said. “We went undefeated in the (ACC) regular season and came into (last year’s) tournament basically thinking we already won it in a way.”

Following that defeat and a shocking loss in the regular-season finale to FSU (15-7), the talented Tar Heel squad was humbled.

“I just did not want to have the feeling like we had last year in the final where we just came short,” Durisic said.

Kalbas, the ACC’s coach of the year, acknowledged that the loss to FSU instilled the Seminoles with a great deal of confidence, but also made his own team mentally tougher.

“We knew how good they were, we weren’t going to take it for granted,” Kalbas said.

Featherston was crowned the MVP of the tournament, but made sure to recognize the contributions of her teammates.

Lost in Sunday’s victory was the contribution of sophomore Gina Suarez-Malaguti, who clinched the ACC quarterfinal against Georgia Tech on Friday.

After leading 3-1 in that match, the Tar Heels trailed in all three remaining singles matches before Suarez-Malaguti came back from a four-game deficit to end the Yellow Jackets’ comeback.

“I feel like I did things I really didn’t think I was capable of doing, especially with the confidence I had,” Suarez-Malaguti said.

At first singles Sunday, sophomore Zoe De Bruycker posted a 6-2, 6-1 rout in her final match.

The Tar Heels won a conference that Kalbas says will likely field nine or 10 teams in the NCAA tournament, and currently holds seven spots in the top 25.

“For us to win this tournament is a tribute, especially because we lost three of our top four girls from last year’s team,” Kalbas said. “It’s truly remarkable.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.