As Zoe De Bruycker walked back to the sideline, she didn’t look like she had just won the first set of her tennis match against UNC-Greensboro’s Niltooli Wilkins.
But she had. Barely.
De Bruycker, ranked No. 44 nationally for No. 4 North Carolina, took the set 7-5, and eventually won the match in straight sets, 7-5, 7-5. But she lost the first three games of the first set and was broken three times in the set overall against the unranked Spartans’ unranked Wilkins.
So it was no wonder that throughout the set, De Bruycker was dead quiet with no emotional reactions.
“I tried to stay calm, so I wasn’t as loud as I usually am, even in the second set,” De Bruycker said. “Because I wasn’t playing my best, I wanted to make sure I didn’t get down on myself at all. I just wanted to stay calm and not get upset if I lost a point, so it wouldn’t drag me down more.
“I wasn’t very happy with the way I was playing. I was glad I won the match, but I was also disappointed in myself.”
The difference in skill between the two players was clear, but De Bruycker still struggled. She consistently hit the ball harder than Wilkins, especially on serves. But Wilkins moved quickly on the court and placed her shots well, which led to her three breaks of De Bruycker, including one with De Bruycker trying to serve out the set ahead 5-4.
And after some of the points she won, Wilkins did react, shouting and smacking herself in the leg.
De Bruycker loosened up in the second set, often yelling from exertion as she hit her shots, which she hadn’t done in the first set. But she still often looked frustrated when Wilkins’ shots found the sideline or the corner.
