On Sunday, the No. 1 North Carolina women’s tennis team (22-0, ACC 8-0) defeated the No. 29 Syracuse Orange (11-5, ACC 4-5) 6-1 in New York.
What happened?
With the absence of Syracuse junior Ines Fonte, Syracuse only had five players for the match-up against UNC, and forfeited the No. 3 doubles match and the No. 6 singles match. Because of this, when No. 13 first-year Reese Brantmeier and senior Elizabeth Scotty earned a 6-0 victory, the Tar Heels clinched the doubles point.
No. 15 Brantmeier added to the lead with an early singles victory, putting UNC up 3-0. Overcoming a stretch of costly mistakes in the first set, No. 1 junior Fiona Crawley clinched the match 6-3, 6-1. No. 68 junior Reilly Tran defeated Syracuse sophomore Shiori Ito 6-4, 6-4, and No. 25 senior Anika Yarlagadda added another victory with a 6-2, 6-2 win.
Despite falling in the tightly-contested first set, graduate student Abbey Forbes refused to go away. Winning her second set 7-5, Forbes remained in a back-and-forth battle with Syracuse sophomore Miyuka Kimoto, but ultimately fell 8-10 in the tie-break.
Who stood out?
Brantmeier was a problem for Syracuse in Sunday’s doubles match-up. At the net, she took advantage of every low stroke, whether the ball was heading to her side of the court or not. She frequently jumped across the serve box to reach balls at the opposite side, forcing Kimoto and senior Zeynep Erman off-balance.
Even while serving, the UNC first-year smothered her Syracuse opponents by setting up Scotty for game-winning volleys. Brantmeier clinched the doubles match on a perfect ace serve to finish her strong doubles performance.
Her aggressiveness continued into singles, taking the first singles point for North Carolina with a decisive 6-0, 6-0 win.
