UNC women's tennis begins new era in sweeps against JMU and Campbell

Starting from scratch. 

The dawn of a new season with fresh faces in Carolina Blue.

 After six upperclassmen departed following last season, the team is now mostly made up of new or younger players. 

This year’s No. 6 North Carolina women’s tennis team takes on a youthful look. The program graduated 1,008 singles and doubles victories last year. But despite the lack of veteran presence, the Tar Heels started its new era strong with back-to-back 7-0 sweeps of James Madison and Campbell on Sunday. The team did not drop a single set point against Campbell on their way to earning the doubles point, recording two 6-0 victories.

Even with the crushing wins, head coach Brian Kalbas described the current team as a “work in progress”.

“It's fun to play these matches because I just told them, we're trying to form and figure out that identity right now,” Kalbas said. “And I think we know what our culture and our program's identity has been in the past, and they're trying to embrace that.”

First-years Claire Hill and Alanis Hamilton each grabbed their first collegiate singles victories against JMU. But the newbies weren’t the only ones starting an improved journey on the court.

Along with the five first-years on the roster stands junior Reese Brantmeier — returning to the court for the first time after she was sidelined with an injury last winter.

Brantmeier suffered a torn meniscus in February 2024 while she was a part of the No. 1 doubles team, and ranked the No. 2 singles player in the country. On Sunday, she went from cheering on the newcomers last season to competing alongside them. During her junior season debut, she clinched the doubles point for UNC in both matchups with Hamilton. 

Against JMU, Brantmeier stepped onto court one for singles — reserved for the top singles player on the team — and recorded a 6-1, 6-3 victory. She did not play singles in the Campbell match. 

“It was so much fun,” Brantmeier said. “I've obviously been thinking about getting back on court for a very long time, so it was just so rewarding and so much fun to be back out there representing Carolina.”

Kalbas stated that if the Tar Heels are going to go anywhere this season, it’s going to be behind Brantmeier’s leadership and “shot in the arm” positive energy. 

“She's a big reason why our team has been successful off the court because she is very unselfish," Kalbas said. "She's such a team person [and] she cares about the program so much. When she lost the opportunity to play and she's had two surgeries to kind of get back, she never, ever, ever was negative and brought any emotionality down to the program. So give her so much credit.”

Despite the abundance of newcomers, players are already ranked high in both singles and doubles. Sophomores Thea Rabman and Tatum Evans checked in at No. 20 in the nation in doubles. Meanwhile, first-year Susanna Maltby and senior Carson Tanguilig hold the No. 1 doubles ranking, but suffered a troubling 6-1 defeat to JMU’s Ines Oliveira and Sophie Williams.

Kalbas attributed the upset to Maltby suffering from an illness. She wasn’t at full strength to start the season.

Despite this, the duo bounced back against Campbell, smashing their opponents 6-0 in response to the earlier near sweep.

Tanguilig also ranks No. 20 in singles, accompanied by No. 9 Rabman and No. 23 Evans, respectively.

“We're a majority underclassmen, which has never been my experience so far at Carolina,” Brantmeier said. “So it's definitely a different vibe, but they bring an awesome energy and I'm so excited to see what all of them do.” 

As this young UNC team continues to settle in, it will be able to fall back on this weekend as an early showcase of their new makeup and ability to battle back in spite of adversity. 

“Each match they play gives them an opportunity to kind of form their own team identity,” Kalbas said. “I hope that it's going to be one that's going to be really tenacious and very resilient and tough in the big moments and just bring a lot of enjoyment to the court every day.”

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@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com