The No. 3 North Carolina women’s tennis team took on Syracuse on Senior Day to close out its regular season. The Tar Heels, led by an emotional final act from senior Haley Carter, edged the Orange 6-1 victory.
What happened?
With a booming crowd behind them, UNC’s doubles team started the day firing on all cylinders. Hayley Carter and Jessie Aney put together a crafty performance, quickly wrapping up their match with a 6-2 victory. Sara Daavettila and Makenna Jones followed their teammates with a 6-0 win of their own shortly thereafter, giving the Tar Heels the 1-0 advantage.
The lone competitive matchup, which saw Rachael James-Baker and Chloe Ouellet-Pizer in a 3-4 hole, was cut short thanks to the speedy victories from the other UNC doubles teams.
Carter and Aney each carried momentum from impressive doubles performance into singles play. Despite being tested, the two posted a pair of straight-set victories. Carter powered past Syracuse’s first-year standout, Miranda Ramirez. No. 77 Ramirez put up an admirable fight in the first set. But Carter proved too much, wrapping up the second set with ease.
Most of the remaining Tar Heels followed suit, wrapping up their matches with relative ease. In the end, only Daavettila suffered a loss.
Who stood out?
For the second singles match in a row, Hayley Carter didn’t look her best self to start the first set. Against Pittsburgh the day before, Carter needed a tie-breaker to claim the first set. She nearly needed another today, having dropped four games in the first set.
But once again, in a seemingly effortless manner, Carter flipped the switch in the second set. The ACC record holder for singles wins pushed her win-total to 163 matches with a dominant 6-2 second-set effort.
