Friday sports roundup: Men's and women's tennis beat Virginia Tech and more

With several of North Carolina's fall sports teams adding spring seasons to their 2020-2021 schedules, The Daily Tar Heel will be recapping some of the action from this spring's busy weekends in roundups every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Women's tennis: UNC 4, Virginia Tech 1 (Friday)

The No. 1 North Carolina women’s tennis team (18-0, 8-0 ACC) hit the road to take on Virginia Tech (4-12, 0-9 ACC) at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center on a rainy Saturday afternoon. 

The Tar Heels endured a 90-minute rain delay before starting the match at 11:30 a.m. Duo Elizabeth Scotty and Makenna Jones earned the first doubles victory for the team on court two by defeating their Hokie doubles opponents, 6-0. 

On court one, third-ranked doubles team, Sara Daavettila and Cameron Morra followed suit and won by a score of 6-1 to clinch the doubles point. 

First-year No. 114 Reilly Tran quickly defeated her opponent on court 6 in straight set victories, 6-0, 6-1, followed by first-year No. 51 Fiona Crawley, who won 6-2, 6-0 on Court 4. Junior No. 28 Cameron Morra earned the last singles point for the Tar Heels, 6-3, 6-3 on court one to secure the 4-1 match victory.

The Tar Heels will return to the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in Chapel Hill on Sunday for their upcoming match against Notre Dame.

Caroline Prendiville, staff writer

Rowing: vs. Central Florida (Saturday)

In its second race of the season, the North Carolina rowing team went against Central Florida on Saturday at the South Fork Rivanna River Reservoir in Charlottesville, Virginia. 

The Tar Heels lost four of their five races to Central Florida. The 1V4+ team, comprised of junior coxswain Lara King, sophomore Taylor Gregitis, junior Amelia Locklear, sophomore Jessica Judge and sophomore Jackie Wilhelm, defeated the Golden Knights with a time of 7:46.5 compared to UCF’s time of 7:55.3. 

The 1V4+ team’s win was the first win for the rowing team this season. 

The UNC 2V8+ and the 2V4+ teams each lost by five seconds in close races. The Tar Heels’ 3V8+ team lost by 19 seconds, while the 1V8+ team struggled in a 27-second loss to the Golden Knights.  

UNC will travel to Clemson, South Carolina to face Clemson and Oklahoma on April 17.

Cooper Metts, staff writer

Men’s tennis: UNC 7, Virginia Tech 0 (Friday)

Though the score implies a dominant shutout for the No. 1 Tar Heels, beating the No. 38 Hokies away from home on a windy Friday was anything but an easy task.

UNC clinched the doubles point after the duo of sophomore Rinky Hijikata and senior Benjamin Sigouin won a close match, 7-5. That added to the fifth-ranked pairing of senior William Blumberg and junior Brian Cernoch’s 6-4 win.

The Tar Heels were forced to go to a third set in three of their six singles matches. Of the three who won in straight sets, none of No. 53 Blumberg, No. 5 Cernoch, or senior Mac Kiger won a set by more than two games. Still, Cernoch’s victory clinched the four points needed for the Tar Heels to pull out the impressive road win over the Hokies.

Twumasi Duah-Mensah, staff writer

 Men's soccer: UNC 2, Notre Dame 1 (Saturday)

In a closely fought match on Friday, the North Carolina men’s soccer team beat Notre Dame in overtime, 2-1. The Fighting Irish led throughout the first frame, scoring one goal and keeping North Carolina off the board. 

In the second half, the Tar Heels were able to notch a goal of their own and tie it up thanks to a goal from senior Santiago Herrera in the 63rd minute, sending the match into overtime after the remainder of regulation was scoreless. 

In the seventh minute of overtime, first-year Tim Schels broke the tie off an assist from Key White to propel North Carolina to victory. UNC finished with 15 shots to Notre Dame’s nine, and 11 corner kicks to the Fighting Irish's five. 

After the win, the Tar Heels have a 6-3-3 record and have won three of their last four matches. North Carolina's next match will be a Senior Night bout with Virginia Tech on April 2.

Grace Guin, staff writer

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