The No. 2 UNC women’s tennis team finished off its successful first weekend of the indoor season with a pair of wins against East Carolina University and Campbell University. The doubleheader took place at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.
UNC is now starting off spring play with a 4-0 record on the season, securing Brian Kalbas’ 500th win as UNC’s head coach.
The doubleheader meant the team spent over eight hours in the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center after playing matchups on Friday and Saturday versus Elon and Appalachian State Universities. However, the Tar Heels kept momentum to secure 7-0 wins against both of their opponents on Monday.
“Coming off the pair of Friday, Saturday matches I was definitely very sore yesterday, definitely took a light hit,” senior Elizabeth Scotty said. “I think just preparing and taking it each match at a time, not getting in your head when it gets closer to the end is super important especially during these long days.”
The first match saw UNC first-year Reese Brantmeier and graduate student Abbey Forbes defeat ECU’s Ines Bachir and Alisha Hussain, 6-1. Junior Reilly Tran, along with Scotty, followed with a swift 6-0 win, defeating Martina Muzzolon and Isabella Rivera Ortiz to secure the doubles point. UNC swept in the singles matchups, with all of the players garnering decisive two-set victories and boxing out ECU for the 7-0 win.
Kalbas was not the only one with a big milestone; Brantmeier secured her first wins as a Tar Heel. She defeated Bachir in 6-1, 6-3 singles wins and then secured back-to-back 6-0 set points versus Campbell’s Lena Karlovcan in match two — in addition to her doubles wins with Forbes.
“Obviously, Reese getting her first wins at UNC, she did great,” Kalbas said. “We just started practice about a week ago, so a lot of that off-season preparation is there. You can see us get better every match, and it’s great to get the team playing in matches again.”
No. 1 singles player Fiona Crawley, senior Sophia Patel and junior Sara McClure all played in both singles sets and secured decisive wins in both matchups.
“Spring is just a different animal, it’s such a different feeling playing six in a line, you know,” Crawley said. “I think that just getting more match-tough is the best thing for our team, and Coach knows that.”
