The North Carolina women’s tennis team’s fifth ITA National Team Indoor Championship victory, sealed by a 4-3 win over Texas earlier this month, was unlike any other.
But before that, the team, who were 2020 ITA Indoor champions, was riding high in March 2020. They came off of that victory without losing a step. After defeating UCLA to win the 2020 championship, UNC also won its next eight matches. Unbeknownst to the Tar Heels, though, the remainder of the season would be cut short, and the offseason would be much longer.
That's when men’s basketball coach Roy Williams and his wife, Wanda, stepped in to provide scholarships for the senior athletes whose seasons ended prematurely due to the pandemic.
For the women’s tennis team, Sara Daavettila, Alexa Graham and Makenna Jones opted into the extra year of eligibility, looking forward to getting another chance at a full senior season.
“We felt like we still had something to prove and something we wanted to finish," Daavettila said. "It was really a no-brainer that we were all going to come back and finish what we started.”
Naturally, Graham was grateful for the chance she and her teammates received to compete for another ITA Championship again, the third of her, Daavettila and Jones’ careers.
The experience as a whole differed from the previous seasons, though. The team could not tour the city as they typically would. Eating inside of restaurants together was no longer an option. The players spent most of their time around each other for the duration of the tournament.
UNC head coach Brian Kalbas made it a point to ensure that COVID-19 regulations were respected by the team and that they prioritized safety.
“We normally get our team in a close huddle, and we do some chants and cheers and just support each other,” Kalbas said. “That’s something that we don’t do anymore during COVID. We try and be real smart.”
