No. 8 UNC women's tennis defeats No. 1 Georgia, 4-3, on Saturday afternoon

The No. 8 North Carolina women’s tennis team (6-1) shocked No. 1 Georgia (3-1), 4-3, on Saturday afternoon in the Lindsey Hopkins Tennis Facility.

Despite needing a three-set match to claim the singles matches, the Tar Heels secured a marquee win against the No. 1 Bulldogs. In her return to the doubles lineup after two matches, first-year Susanna Maltby’s strong showing alongside senior Carson Tanguilig led the Tar Heels to their first doubles win en route to the doubles point.

Brantmeier secured a 6-4 victory in the third set of the deciding match against the No. 1 singles player in the country, Georgia’s Dasha Vidmanova, to give the Tar Heels the 4-3 advantage.

Doubles

First to finish, the No. 1 ranked duo of Maltby and senior Carson Tanguilig easily handled their matchup against Georgia’s Guillermina Grant and Sofia Rojas on court one, 6-0, thanks to skilled net play by Maltby and powerful serves from Tanguilig at the baseline.

Junior Reese Brantmeier and first-year Alanis Hamilton clinched the doubles point on court one after dropping only the second game, 1-1, then winning five in a row. Up 40-15, Hamilton fired off a strong ace for match point to end the doubles matches with a sweep.

Singles

The Tar Heels got off to a hot start, with Hamilton, Tanguilig and junior Thea Rabman securing their first sets, 6-3. 

First-year Claire Hill tallied a commanding 3-0 lead on Georgia’s Grant in the first set, but after giving up three games in a row, Hill fell to Grant, 4-6.

Brantmeier fought back from 0-2 down to win the first set against the No. 1 singles player, Georgia’s Vidmanova, 7-5. After the first two games, Brantmeier began to utilize her fluid backhand and fire off shots into the deep corners of the inbound lines.

No. 4 seed Tanguilig started the second set down 2-4, but battled back to claim the first singles point for the Tar Heels with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Georgia’s Mell Reasco. No. 2 seed Rabman won her sets in the same manner, dominating Georgia’s Alexandra Vecic throughout their singles match to give UNC a 3-0 lead.

Then, the Bulldogs began to charge back.

After starting 2-1, No. 3 seed Hamilton dropped four games in a row to Georgia’s Anastasiia Lopata, losing the set, 4-6. Brantmeier immediately fell behind to Vidmanova in the second set, falling 3-6, forcing a third set for each.

Evans, UNC’s No. 5 seed, then fell to Georgia’s Aysegul Mart in a 8-6 tiebreaker, 5-7, 6-7 to give Georgia its first point of the match, 3-1.

Hamilton and Hill dropped their third sets, 2-6 and 3-6, respectively. The Bulldogs tied the match, 3-3.

Up 5-4 in the third set, Brantmeier fired a cross-court strike that her opponent couldn’t quite return to win the set, 6-4, and give the Tar Heels the 4-3 victory.

The Tar Heels will head to Evanston, Ill. on Friday to compete in the ITA National Team Indoor Championship.

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