No. 4 UNC women's tennis comes up short against No. 9 Duke

Inside the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center, the UNC women’s tennis team stretched post-match in sweatpants and quarter zips on the indoor courts. A few stayed in their uniforms, still stained with sweat from the grueling loss. No chatter between teammates filled the room. Only disappointment hung through the silence. 

Some breathed deeply. Others closed their eyes. 

As tears dripped down her cheeks, senior Carson Tanguilig couldn’t pinpoint exactly what went wrong for her. It felt like “everything.” 

“Sometimes, you want it too bad,” head coach Brian Kalbas said. “Some of the situations, we were trying too hard.”

No. 4 UNC fell, 4-2, to No. 9 Duke on Wednesday evening at the Chewning Tennis Center. North Carolina couldn’t sustain its momentum after taking the doubles point, only winning one singles match. It’s the first loss to the Blue Devils since the 2021-22 season. 

But at first, there was energy. 

In a “180 turnaround” from dropping the opening point of the N.C. State match on Sunday, junior Reese Brantmeier and first-year Alanis Hamilton upset the No. 13 doubles team in the nation. Tanguilig and first-year Susanna Maltby rounded out the doubles point. The Tar Heels clinched a 1-0 lead. 

“We brought a lot of good energy,” Tanguilig said. “Those are pairings that we’re a lot more familiar with, so it allowed us to be a lot more comfortable in what we’re doing.”

Then, it fizzled until there was nothing left. 

Tanguilig was the first to fall, 6-3 and 6-0. 

Many of her returns smacked into the tape at the top of the net. Other times, she struggled to keep her groundstrokes in between the lines. 

She threw her hands up in frustration after missed shots. She grimaced at the back wall as she retrieved her towel in between points. 

“Lost a lot of [deuce] points, lost a lot of close points, lost a lot of leads and games,” Kalbas said. “[Duke] played every point the same, and we played, at times, tentative, not to lose.”

Then, Hamilton and sophomore Thea Rabman went down in straight sets. 

On court four, sophomore Tatum Evans forced a third set, bouncing back from losing in the first. With Brantmeier winning her match 6-3, 6-3, and two players still on court battling, maybe North Carolina could still scrape by. Maybe the Tar Heels could overcome the momentum shift. 

But first-year Claire Hill was fighting an uphill battle. Falling in her first set 6-4, she let Duke’s Ellie Coleman build an immediate two-game lead in the second. 

“[Coleman] plays really good defense,” Kalbas said. “And then once you think that she’s just a defensive player and you lead the ball short, she can hurt you.”

Despite cutting the score to down 5-3 — playing more decisively and clear-headed — it wasn’t enough. Hill couldn’t escape the hole and dropped the next game. 

Coleman laid down her racket and screamed. Duke’s team rushed the court and jumped. Hill could only stare. 

“It sucks to lose to Duke,” Tanguilig said, before later adding, "That's potentially one of the last times I'll play them, I [will] never take that for granted." 

Huddled together on the court after Duke’s final point lit up the scoreboard, the Tar Heels put their arms around each other. Kalbas told his team to let it roll off their shoulders. 

It wasn’t the NCAA tournament or the ACC tournament. He instructed them to take care of the little things, starting with positive energy. Not getting down when things begin to not go their way. Not letting up. Competing the entire time. 

Focus on those little things, and bigger things will come. 

“It’s just one match,” Kalbas said. “So I’m not disappointed at all.”

@carolinewills03

@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com

---