After starting the season with a perfect 30-0 record, the North Carolina women’s tennis team fell to Pepperdine with a 4-3 loss in the NCAA semifinals.
What happened?
Pepperdine and UNC split the first two finished matches of the simultaneous doubles, with the Tar Heels winning match one 6-4 and the Waves winning match three 6-4. The deciding match for the doubles point came down to the fourth-ranked UNC duo of Makenna Jones and Elizabeth Scotty, who were defeated by the unranked Pepperdine pairing of Shiori Fakuda and Taisiya Pachkaleva, 5-7. With this match, the first point went to the Waves for a 1-0 lead.
UNC needed the edge on four of the six singles proceeding matches to win. Having the higher-ranked player in five of those matches, the odds seemed to favor the Tar Heels.
As the results of the first four matches began to line up, UNC looked to be on top. Fifth-year Alexa Graham’s match was the first singles to come in, taking down Pepperdine’s Jessica Failla 6-2,6-3. First-year Fiona Crawley and Sarah Daavettila earned the Tar Heels two more singles points winning their matches 6-3, 6-1 and 6-4, 6-4 respectively. This put North Carolina on top with three points to Pepperdine’s two.
However, the streak stopped there, as Pepperdine took the final two matches, winning the match 4-3 to bring UNC's season to an end.
Who stood out?
Pepperdine’s duo of Fakuda and Pachkaleva pulled in the first point for their team with a surprising upset against the higher-seeded UNC team of Jones and Scotty. The point played a pivotal role in their team’s victory.
For the Tar Heels, no. 2 seeded Sara Daavettila cemented an unbelievable 30-0 personal match record, winning both her doubles match and her singles point for the Tar Heels.
