Head coach Brian Kalbas
GoHeels Exclusive: Tar Heels Poised For Another Strong Season
January 11, 2018 | Women's Tennis, Featured Writers
by Pat James, GoHeels.com
From Sara Anundsen and Jenna Long to Jamie Loeb and Caroline Price, several standouts on the North Carolina women's tennis team have come and gone in recent years.
Yet perhaps none had a greater impact than Hayley Carter.
The only women's tennis player in ACC history to be named the Scholar-Athlete of the Year, ACC Player of the Year and Tournament Most Valuable Player in consecutive seasons, Carter graduated last year as the ACC's all-time leader in women's tennis singles victories (168). Over her four years, UNC went 123-14.
But now she's gone. And as the Tar Heels prepare to navigate their first spring season without her since 2013, they'll look to multiple players who have assumed new roles and responsibilities.
"It really adds so much to your team when you have a No. 1 player who you can count on every single match," said Brian Kalbas, who is entering his 15th season as UNC's head coach. "It takes a lot of pressure off the other players. I don't think we're going to have that this year, but we're definitely much deeper than we've ever been."
That depth was evident during the fall campaign, which the Tar Heels concluded with three players in the top 18 of the ITA singles rankings. No other program had more than one.
UNC will look to carry over that momentum when it opens the spring season on Friday with the Freeman Memorial Championship in Las Vegas. The Tar Heels then begin the dual-match season at William & Mary and Richmond on Jan. 20.
Here are five things to know about the team entering the spring season:
A key addition
Considered a blue chip recruit by tennisrecruiting.net, freshman Alle Sanford looked the part during the fall season, going 13-3 in singles.
Sanford claimed the Oracle/ITA Masters singles title, advanced to the quarterfinals of the Oracle ITA National Fall Championship and represented Team USA at the annual Master'U BNP Paris International Collegiate Team Competition in Marcq-en-Baroeul, France. Entering the spring, she's UNC's highest-ranked singles players at No. 9.
"She hates to lose. She's very competitive," Kalbas said. "She has that 'it' factor where she has the ability to step up her game in big moments and go for her shots and believe in herself."
Still, there are areas in which Kalbas said Sanford can improve. Among them, he said she occasionally dwells on negatives and needs to continue developing a killer instinct for when she's ahead of her opponent.
"Sometimes she plays better when she's down and not really so much when she's up," Kalbas said. "So I think having that mentality that, 'Hey, don't worry about the score. Focus on my execution and compete each point the same.'"
Jones' hard work pays dividends
Just behind Sanford in the singles rankings is sophomore Makenna Jones, who enters the spring as the No. 11 player in the country.
In the first fall tournament, Jones won her bracket in the Duke Bonk Invitational. She then rode that to a 10-2 singles record. After posting a 24-12 overall singles record as a freshman, her success during the fall season hinted at the strides she's made.
"She's really grown up," Kalbas said. "She was really hard on herself as a freshman. She was kind of negative, could never see the good things she was doing and took herself too seriously at times. She wasn't the best coach she could be to herself.
"She's been the most consistent of all of our players on the national scale from this fall. And it's nice to see her hard work pay off for her."
Akkerman's returnÂ
Redshirt junior Marika Akkerman compiled a 34-19 overall singles record across her first two seasons. But after sustaining a preseason injury, she missed the entire 2016-17 campaign.
Although Kalbas said Akkerman was nervous entering the fall, she took advantage of her return to the court and finished with a 6-2 singles record.
"She redefined and found the passion and the love of the game again," Kalbas said. "She's gotten better and better and better every single match and every single practice. She's really confident now, she's in great shape and she's experienced."
That final characteristic can't be emphasized enough.Â
During her sophomore season, Akkerman fell just two points shy of helping the Tar Heels win their third ITA National Team Indoor Championship in a four-year span. She also beat Virginia's Erica Susi, 6-1, 6-1, in the NCAA Championship Round of 16.
"I thought that was going to springboard her into her junior year," Kalbas said. "It's unfortunate that she had surgery and was out the whole year. But she's really playing well and she adds a whole 'nother dimension to our team."
Doubles decisions
After all three made the semifinals of the ITA Carolinas Regional, the doubles tandems of Jessie Aney and Alexa Graham, Sara Daavettila and Sanford, and Jones and Chloe Ouellet-Pizer are ranked Nos. 18, 37 and 51, respectively.
The combination of Akkerman and Ouellet-Pizer is also ranked No. 53.
But Kalbas said those rankings are slightly misleading, given Duke's top doubles teams – ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the country – didn't compete in the ITA Carolinas Regional.
"Even though we have some ranked teams, we're still in a state of flux …" Kalbas said. "But we have some really good competitors who have worked hard on their doubles skills. To find the right combinations is going to be a priority for us."
An exciting schedule
UNC begins 2018 as the No. 5 team in the nation. Over the last five seasons, the Tar Heels are the only team in the country to finish in the top five of the ITA final rankings each year.
Continuing that streak could prove difficult. UNC is slated to play five teams during the dual-match season that are currently ranked in the top 19, including four top-10 opponents. That includes non-conference matches against No. 2 Vanderbilt and No. 10 Michigan.
But both of those matches will be held at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center. In fact, the Tar Heels' trip to Las Vegas this weekend is likely the farthest they'll travel this spring, as the ACC and NCAA Championships are in Cary and Winston-Salem, respectively.
"We're really excited for our schedule," Kalbas said. "Travel-wise, it's not a big, taxing season for us. I think it's an opportunity for us to kind of get better and test ourselves against the best competition and hope to be playing our best tennis at the end of the year."
Â
From Sara Anundsen and Jenna Long to Jamie Loeb and Caroline Price, several standouts on the North Carolina women's tennis team have come and gone in recent years.
Yet perhaps none had a greater impact than Hayley Carter.
The only women's tennis player in ACC history to be named the Scholar-Athlete of the Year, ACC Player of the Year and Tournament Most Valuable Player in consecutive seasons, Carter graduated last year as the ACC's all-time leader in women's tennis singles victories (168). Over her four years, UNC went 123-14.
But now she's gone. And as the Tar Heels prepare to navigate their first spring season without her since 2013, they'll look to multiple players who have assumed new roles and responsibilities.
"It really adds so much to your team when you have a No. 1 player who you can count on every single match," said Brian Kalbas, who is entering his 15th season as UNC's head coach. "It takes a lot of pressure off the other players. I don't think we're going to have that this year, but we're definitely much deeper than we've ever been."
That depth was evident during the fall campaign, which the Tar Heels concluded with three players in the top 18 of the ITA singles rankings. No other program had more than one.
UNC will look to carry over that momentum when it opens the spring season on Friday with the Freeman Memorial Championship in Las Vegas. The Tar Heels then begin the dual-match season at William & Mary and Richmond on Jan. 20.
Here are five things to know about the team entering the spring season:
A key addition
Considered a blue chip recruit by tennisrecruiting.net, freshman Alle Sanford looked the part during the fall season, going 13-3 in singles.
Sanford claimed the Oracle/ITA Masters singles title, advanced to the quarterfinals of the Oracle ITA National Fall Championship and represented Team USA at the annual Master'U BNP Paris International Collegiate Team Competition in Marcq-en-Baroeul, France. Entering the spring, she's UNC's highest-ranked singles players at No. 9.
"She hates to lose. She's very competitive," Kalbas said. "She has that 'it' factor where she has the ability to step up her game in big moments and go for her shots and believe in herself."
Still, there are areas in which Kalbas said Sanford can improve. Among them, he said she occasionally dwells on negatives and needs to continue developing a killer instinct for when she's ahead of her opponent.
"Sometimes she plays better when she's down and not really so much when she's up," Kalbas said. "So I think having that mentality that, 'Hey, don't worry about the score. Focus on my execution and compete each point the same.'"
Jones' hard work pays dividends
Just behind Sanford in the singles rankings is sophomore Makenna Jones, who enters the spring as the No. 11 player in the country.
In the first fall tournament, Jones won her bracket in the Duke Bonk Invitational. She then rode that to a 10-2 singles record. After posting a 24-12 overall singles record as a freshman, her success during the fall season hinted at the strides she's made.
"She's really grown up," Kalbas said. "She was really hard on herself as a freshman. She was kind of negative, could never see the good things she was doing and took herself too seriously at times. She wasn't the best coach she could be to herself.
"She's been the most consistent of all of our players on the national scale from this fall. And it's nice to see her hard work pay off for her."
Akkerman's returnÂ
Redshirt junior Marika Akkerman compiled a 34-19 overall singles record across her first two seasons. But after sustaining a preseason injury, she missed the entire 2016-17 campaign.
Although Kalbas said Akkerman was nervous entering the fall, she took advantage of her return to the court and finished with a 6-2 singles record.
"She redefined and found the passion and the love of the game again," Kalbas said. "She's gotten better and better and better every single match and every single practice. She's really confident now, she's in great shape and she's experienced."
That final characteristic can't be emphasized enough.Â
During her sophomore season, Akkerman fell just two points shy of helping the Tar Heels win their third ITA National Team Indoor Championship in a four-year span. She also beat Virginia's Erica Susi, 6-1, 6-1, in the NCAA Championship Round of 16.
"I thought that was going to springboard her into her junior year," Kalbas said. "It's unfortunate that she had surgery and was out the whole year. But she's really playing well and she adds a whole 'nother dimension to our team."
Doubles decisions
After all three made the semifinals of the ITA Carolinas Regional, the doubles tandems of Jessie Aney and Alexa Graham, Sara Daavettila and Sanford, and Jones and Chloe Ouellet-Pizer are ranked Nos. 18, 37 and 51, respectively.
The combination of Akkerman and Ouellet-Pizer is also ranked No. 53.
But Kalbas said those rankings are slightly misleading, given Duke's top doubles teams – ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the country – didn't compete in the ITA Carolinas Regional.
"Even though we have some ranked teams, we're still in a state of flux …" Kalbas said. "But we have some really good competitors who have worked hard on their doubles skills. To find the right combinations is going to be a priority for us."
An exciting schedule
UNC begins 2018 as the No. 5 team in the nation. Over the last five seasons, the Tar Heels are the only team in the country to finish in the top five of the ITA final rankings each year.
Continuing that streak could prove difficult. UNC is slated to play five teams during the dual-match season that are currently ranked in the top 19, including four top-10 opponents. That includes non-conference matches against No. 2 Vanderbilt and No. 10 Michigan.
But both of those matches will be held at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center. In fact, the Tar Heels' trip to Las Vegas this weekend is likely the farthest they'll travel this spring, as the ACC and NCAA Championships are in Cary and Winston-Salem, respectively.
"We're really excited for our schedule," Kalbas said. "Travel-wise, it's not a big, taxing season for us. I think it's an opportunity for us to kind of get better and test ourselves against the best competition and hope to be playing our best tennis at the end of the year."
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