Elizabeth Scotty provides much-needed spark in UNC's 12th ACC Championship win
The UNC women’s tennis team poses for a photo with ACC commissioner James J. Phillips after winning the 2024 ACC women’s tennis tournament at Cary Indoor Tennis Park on Sunday, April 21, 2024.
CARY — The momentum was slipping out of North Carolina’s hands.
Finally earning the doubles point over Virginia — a team the Tar Heels had yet to beat on the doubles courts — should’ve generated enough energy to carry UNC through singles. Instead, North Carolina’s intensity sputtered.
Down 4-0 in the first set of her match, senior Elizabeth Scotty sprayed yet another ball outside the white lines. Frustrated, she smacked the bottom of her shoe with her racket. She went on to lose the set, 6-0.
UNC senior Elizabeth Scotty swings to strike the ball during her ACC championship singles match against Virginia at Carry Indoor Tennis Park on Sunday, April 21, 2024. UNC won 4-1.
But she wasn’t done. Not even close. She sat on the bench and received treatment on her sore elbow. Then, it was a new set. A reset. What followed was a standing-ovation-earning comeback and a burst of regained energy for North Carolina.
“It’s symbolic of our team,” head coach Brian Kalbas said. “We just don’t quit. We fight for every point, and we keep competing really hard.”
Powered by tournament MVP Scotty’s resiliency, top-seeded UNC earned the program’s 12th ACC Championship title on Sunday. North Carolina outlasted No. 2-seeded Virginia, 4-1, at Cary Tennis Park’s indoor facility to clinch the championship for the first time since 2021. The senior’s bounce-back 0-6, 6-1, 6-2 win clinched the second team point of the afternoon and catapulted the Tar Heels towards victory.
UNC senior Elizabeth Scotty and ACC commissioner James J. Phillips pose for a picture after UNC's win against Virginia during the ACC championship at Carry Indoor Tennis Park on Sunday, April 21, 2024. UNC won 4-1.
After Laura Scotty watched her niece lose the first set, she admitted she felt nervous. For a moment, she was worried — but only for a moment.
“That kid is a fighter,” she said. “I knew when she got the treatment that she’d come back tough, and she did. She’s a beast. No quit in her. She’s going to fight through the very end.”
In that tumultuous first set, Elizabeth said she couldn’t catch a break. She lost every deuce game. She struggled to make her first serve. Virginia’s Hibah Shaikh pounced on every second serve with hard-hit returns that forced Scotty off balance. Then, in rallies, Scotty would anticipate Shaikh to hit crosscourt with every backhand, only to receive a backhand down the line in an unreachable corner.
“I was really reeling because my goal is always to be the first one off with a point on the board,” she said. “And I was like, ‘I’m going to be the first one off with a loss.’"
She needed a change. Associate head coach Tyler Thomson had been serving as her coach and presiding over her court, but he switched with Kalbas at the break between sets. When Kalbas stepped on court two, he only had one thing to say to her: “Play your game.”
She had to trust herself and her play style.
Scotty said she started to take everything one point at a time, then one game at a time. With every shot she pounded to an impossible spot, she screamed. Her teammates chanted her name from the sidelines. Even from the stands, her aunt said she could feel the shift in momentum and adrenaline that kicked in.
The crowd goes wild after UNC senior Elizabeth Scotty clinches a comeback in tiebreaks and earns the team its second point during the ACC championship match against Virginia at Carry Indoor Tennis Park on Sunday, April 21, 2024. UNC won 4-1.
“With Scotty, it’s not about strategy as much as it’s about what she needs to [do to] impose her will on the ball and that will impose her will on her opponent,” Kalbas said. “She played some of the best points I’ve ever seen in college tennis — just the ball striking, the movement [and] the air of confidence and toughness.”
Down went the second set. Then, the third. When her forehand cut down the line and the game was finally clinched, she let out a yell — a release of palpable relief — at the crowd beside her and threw out her arms wide.
UNC senior Elizabeth Scotty celebrates a point during her ACC championship singles match against Virginia at Carry Indoor Tennis Park on Sunday, April 21, 2024. UNC won 4-1.
Finally, the Tar Heels had a second team point on the scoreboard. The dominos fell from there.
Senior Reilly Tran survived a first set push to win it. In Scotty fashion, first-year Tatum Evans came back from falling in the first set to clinching it all in the third set.
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UNC senior Reilly Tran roars in celebration after winning her singles match against Virginia, earning the third point for the team during the ACC championship match at Carry Indoor Tennis Park on Sunday, April 21, 2024. UNC won 4-1.
A soaked quarter-zip for the head coach, an ACC trophy and a few championship T-shirts and hats later, it was clear to Kalbas who got UNC to the finish line.
UNC women’s tennis head coach Brian Kalabas gets drenched by juniors Carson Tanguilig and Lindsay Zink (out of frame) after their win against Virginia at Carry Indoor Tennis Park on Sunday, April 21, 2024. UNC won 4-1.
“[Scotty] helped the team,” he said. “She sparked a lot of energy at that point in time. We were a little flat. Virginia was 5-2, 5-2, 5-2 — they were really in control. Once Scotty turned it around, it completely changed the momentum of the match.”
