Tatum Evans seals 4-3 victory for UNC women's tennis over N.C. State

Tatum Evans had been in this position before. It didn’t make it any easier. 

An intimidating silence had fallen over the Chewning Tennis Center. The grunts as both players threw their remaining energy into their groundstrokes harshly cut through the quiet. Every bounce of the rubber tennis ball against the concrete echoed through the stadium. 

All eyes were glued to court four. Players from UNC and N.C. State — long finished with their respective matches — lined up on either side. The fate of the match, tied at 3-3, rested on this third set. Evans had won the first, but lost the second. UNC needed the sophomore to be its saving grace. 

Nothing about this moment was easy. She knew what it felt like to be the last-man-standing on court. She had won matches this way. Lost them, too. 

Still, she couldn’t help but crave a moment like this. 

“We talked about it this week,” head coach Brian Kalbas said. “She's like, ‘I want to be in those positions.’ I reminded her of that when she lost the second set. I said, ‘This is what you asked for. This is what you wanted. This is what you’ve worked for. Just go out there and earn it.’”

And she did. Evans’ triumph clinched No. 4 North Carolina’s 4-3 win over No. 10 N.C. State on Sunday afternoon. After dropping the doubles point, the Tar Heels rallied to win four singles matches — three of which were forced into a deciding third set. 

Last year, Evans’ third set cost the team against the Wolfpack. 

Facing N.C. State for the first time, Evans dropped her first set, 6-1. She wasn’t ready for the moment, Kalbas said. 

She was supposed to redshirt her first year at North Carolina. She didn’t play the entire fall — half of the tennis season — while most of her teammates competed for collegiate doubles and singles titles and adjusted to the team dynamic. Then, Reese Brantmeier’s season was ended by an injury. Evans was asked to burn her redshirt to fill in the gap in the lineup. She said yes. 

Last March, she battled back to win the second set to force a third. Suddenly, the match’s score was tied 3-3. Everyone was watching. Counting on her. 

She unraveled. 

“It was my first big match,” she said. “I wasn’t very experienced.”

Since then, she has gone from a one-dimensional player, according to Kalbas, to adding more offense to her game. Her forehand and serve are weapons. She can move around the entire court. She gravitates to the net more often. 

“She has more things to hurt players,” Kalbas said. 

She used those weapons to her advantage in the first set on Sunday. She won, 7-6, in a tiebreaker. Evans frustrated N.C. State's Gabriella Broadfoot so much that Broadfoot threw her racket to the ground after losing another point deep in the set. 

The second was a different story. With the score tied 4-4, Evans lost her focus. 

“I got away from things and I was being too negative,” Evans said. “I wasn’t able to focus on the tennis. I was more focused on how tired I felt and what was going on around me.” 

Around her, sophomore Thea Rabman was starting to lose momentum after winning her first set. She went on to fall in a third. Senior Carson Tanguilig went down in similar fashion. North Carolina needed to win four singles matches, but at that point, only had two. 

Evans lost her energy. Her footwork slowed. She lost a deuce point to go down, 5-4. It spiraled from there. 6-4. 

Before the deciding third set, Kalbas squatted in front of Evans, who sat on the bench on the sideline and heaved for breath. 

“Hey, it’s coming down to you,” he told her. “Be focused. Play your game. Trust it.”

She turned her attention to her footwork. She pulled her shoulders back. Walked with more assertion and confidence. Played with more urgency. She put a pep in her step.

Evans leaned on her experience in down-to-the-wire situations like these. 

“I just decided I was going to stop being a little baby and just move my feet,” Evans said. 

Still, it wasn’t pretty. Evans gave up an early 2-0 lead. Contentious out-of-bounds calls led to heated arguments. Unforced errors were piling up. Then, Evans’ on-court calls were overturned twice, resulting in a game point penalty. 

Brantmeier’s third set finished in a victory. The match score evened up. The entire team was watching. Deafening silence followed.  

“We were trying to be chill,” Brantmeier said. “But we were definitely a little stressed out.” 

After taking a 5-2 lead, Evans let Broadfoot fight back to 5-4. Panic rose. 

“I was like, ‘Alright, if you’re gonna win this match, win it the right way,’” Evans said. “‘If you’re gonna lose, then at least end it on doing the right things.’ I decided to play more of my game.” 

Through her stress, she increased her aggression. She moved forward to volley. She tried to pounce on the ball as early as possible. 

Evans grabbed a 40-30 lead in the next game. 

Readying to serve, she bounced the ball in front of her. Placed it in the throat of her racket. Adjusted her feet. Once. Twice. Three times. She threw the ball up and swung, blasting it deep into the service box with a labored grunt. 

Broadfoot’s return landed outside the lines. 

Evans pumped her fist. Relief flooded her. She wiped at the sweat on her forehead. Her body went limp.

“Thank goodness I clinched this time,” Evans said, unable to contain the grin on her face. 

Her teammates screeched. They stormed the court, wrapping their arms around her. Evans fell to the ground — a combination of her exhaustion and being tackled. She laid on the concrete for a while in the dogpile. This was everything she craved.

THANK YOU, TATUM 🫶 pic.twitter.com/yz7epEPynC

— Carolina Women's Tennis 🐏🎾 (@UNC_wtennis) March 23, 2025

Evans made self-deprecating jokes after the match. She quipped about handling big points better compared to her first year — “Not great, but a little better.”

To her head coach, the difference is clear. 

“Today," Kalbas said,"she was ready for that moment."

@carolinewills03

@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com

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