Strong doubles play lifts UNC women's tennis to wins over Florida State and Miami

Doubles is a sprint.

With only one set to determine a winner and two wins required to clinch the doubles point, a sense of urgency is crucial for the top-three doubles teams. Without urgency, the opportunity for a strong start and an early lead can slip away quickly, putting more pressure on singles play.

When it comes to the strategy for the North Carolina women’s tennis team during its doubles matches, these are the words that head coach Brian Kalbas repeats to get his team in an aggressive mindset. 

Against this weekend's matchups against Florida State and No. 11 Miami, UNC clinched both doubles points, contributing to its 6-1 win over the Seminoles and 5-2 victory over the Hurricanes. Kalbas stressed that both Florida teams are known for their aggressiveness in doubles, yet North Carolina still managed to come out on top. 

Earlier this season, Kalbas said the team's doubles play was a work in progress. UNC rarely keeps the same doubles teams combinations, but Kalbas said the Tar Heels' recent performances indicate the teams are meshing together nicely.

Facing off against the Seminoles, the No. 13 duo of senior Elizabeth Scotty and first-year Reese Brantmeier clinched the doubles point for the Tar Heels after No. 4 junior Fiona Crawley and sophomore Carson Tanguilig bested their FSU opponents 6-3. 

Scotty said the doubles sprint revolves around preventing a deficit larger than two games because if the team falls behind, coming back before the opponent wins six games could be a difficult proposition. 

“Our strategy is always going to be the same,” she said. “It's just making sure we implement it. We always want to be aggressive. We always want to be hitting big serves, ripping our groundstrokes through the middle and setting up our net player to put the ball away.”

While facing off against Florida State’s doubles team, Scotty and Brantmeier were never down by more than one game. Both teams alternated between a tied score and taking a brief lead until the Tar Heels finally broke free at 5-4. 

“That game was very important,” Scotty said. “We kind of tried to take charge and take it at the net player a couple of times because she wasn't ready when it came at her versus when she was moving towards the ball – just taking offense.”

The undefeated team of junior Reilly Tran and graduate student Abbey Forbes also added two more wins to their perfect record. In their matchup against Florida State, the UNC doubles team capitalized on a four-game win streak to post a 6-2 win. Then, on Saturday, the duo clinched the team point with a 6-3 victory over Miami.  

To Tran, the urgency of doubles centers around attitude and energy. While a singles match can take up to three or four hours, she said the team typically only has 30-40 minutes to earn a doubles victory. Forbes added that Kalbas has emphasized a “strike first” mantra for their doubles play. 

“When we go into matches, I'm thinking if we go down, I'm going to go down swinging and I'm going to go down striking,” Forbes said. 

After this weekend’s triumphs, North Carolina is 22-2 in clinching the doubles team point this season. 

As an already strong singles team, adding that extra piece of doubles dominance will be crucial for the Tar Heels to maintain their perfect record as they approach tough matches against No. 7 N.C. State and No. 8 Duke. 

“We need to play every match with the intention that every team is going to be like Miami,” Forbes said. “They're always fighting. They are never going to go down. We were preparing a week before them, and we knew that it was going to be a dog fight. I think that if we go into every match for the remainder of the season with that mentality, then we'll be just fine.”  

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