University of North Carolina Athletics
Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati
GoHeels Exclusive: Having Fun
March 26, 2018 | Women's Tennis, Featured Writers
By Pat James, GoHeels.com
The anticipation built throughout last week, both for Jessie Aney and Alexa Graham.
Just four days before the North Carolina women's tennis team's match against Georgia Tech on Saturday, Aney and Graham came in at No. 2 in the latest national doubles rankings. Their next opponents, Georgia Tech's Paige Hourigan and Kenya Jones, jumped from No. 4 to No. 1.
So with a top-2 doubles matchup looming, Aney went to work, inviting approximately 50 people to the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center for perhaps her and Graham's biggest test so far this season.
"We love playing anybody that pushes us, and when you're playing the No. 1 team in the nation, it's some added hype," Aney said. "We love matches where we can come out and be fiery and be excited about winning."
And lately, they've had plenty to be excited about.
Although the top-ranked Tar Heels fell 4-3 against No. 6 Georgia Tech, Aney and Graham dominated their doubles match, winning 6-2. They then followed that performance up with a 6-3 victory against Virginia Tech's Elena Cerezo-Codina and Caroline Daxhelet in Sunday's 7-0 win over the Hokies, extending their winning streak to 12 matches.
Aney and Graham currently sit at 13-1 in dual matches and 7-0 in ACC play. Thanks largely to them, UNC (17-2, 6-1 ACC) has seized the doubles point in all but two matches this spring, including Saturday's.
The duo's doubles success isn't unprecedented. Over the last five seasons, four other Tar Heel tandems have also been ranked in the top five of the national doubles rankings. That includes the team of Aney and Hayler Carter, who claimed All-America honors in doubles last season and won a doubles national title at the 2016 Riviera/ITA All-American Championships.
But what exactly makes Aney and Graham work so well together?
"They have a lot of fun together and their styles match up," Brian Kalbas said. "Alexa is really good at setting Jessie up, and Jessie has a lot of free reign when Alexa is serving well and striking the ball well; Jessie can kind of float at the net and knock off volleys.
"It's their chemistry, their belief and just their toughness out there (that make them successful)."
Aney, a junior who graduated from high school one year early, and Graham, a sophomore, played four doubles matches together last season. They went 3-1. But they started developing a strong rapport long before then.
At the age of 14, Aney, from Rochester, Minn., met Graham, from Garden City, N.Y., at a USTA camp in Florida. On the first night, Aney said they joined fellow campers and coaches for dinner at a Maggiano's Little Italy, where the coaches ordered appetizers for everyone. One specific square-shaped item bewildered them, as neither could tell if it was fried mozzarella or chicken.
"Alexa was like, 'OK, try it. If it's mozzarella, I don't want any. But if it's chicken, I want some,'" Aney recalled. "I cut myself a little piece and I'm trying it, and I'm like, 'Oh, yeah, it's chicken.' She's like, 'OK, give me a piece.' She tried to cut it and (cheese) just strings over the table.
"That's the first time we met, and she was like, 'We're going to be great friends.'"
Graham's prediction held true. And the closeness between her and Aney is evident every time they take the court. They feed off each other; Graham provides energy, and Aney serves as more of a calming influence.
"Being best friends and then getting to play with (Aney), we laugh a lot on the court," Graham said. "It keeps it light and easy, and we're never really stressing or anything."
"We just have a lot of fun," Aney said. "And in doubles, that's so important, especially with these short matches. Coming out and just taking it to them and being in their face right away, I think that gets us really good starts, and it's not that hard to finish once you're up in a set."
That was the case against Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech.
Facing Hourigan and Jones, Aney and Graham got an early break to go up 3-1. They then won three of the next four games to seal the 6-2 victory. The next day, they trailed Cerezo-Codina and Daxhelet 2-1 before taking four straight games en route to a 6-3 win.
The latter victory matched Aney and Graham's narrowest in six March matches, all against ACC opponents. They also won 6-3 against Miami's Estela Perez-Somarriba and Sofia Sewing. In their four other wins this month, Aney and Graham dropped just six total games.
For both, their success in doubles has also translated to singles.
After splitting her matches against Georgia Tech's Nami Otsuka and Virginia Tech's Katherine Butler, Aney, ranked No. 47 in singles, is 7-2 over her last nine matches. Graham, ranked No. 70, notched straight-set wins over No. 115 Ida Jarlskog and Cerezo-Codina. She's now 18-0 in dual matches and 7-0 in ACC play.
Kalbas said Graham's stellar singles play has largely been the result of an improved transition game, which Graham attributed to playing a lot of doubles.
"I feel like I've just been really not putting a lot of pressure on myself," Graham said. "I've been staying calm on the court and really just enjoying it, and I've been successful in doing that."
Before the spring season, Kalbas said finding the right combinations in doubles was going to be a priority. That appears to still be the case with seven matches left in the regular season, as the pairs of Marika Akkerman/Alle Sanford and Sara Daavettila/Makenna Jones made their season debuts against Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech.
But the Tar Heels have found consistency with Aney and Graham.
"To play next to Jessie and Alexa, especially with how well they've been doing lately, it's kind of inspiring to look down as they're literally killing it," Sanford said. "They can be out there and go up immediately, and it inspires you to want to do the same thing."
The anticipation built throughout last week, both for Jessie Aney and Alexa Graham.
Just four days before the North Carolina women's tennis team's match against Georgia Tech on Saturday, Aney and Graham came in at No. 2 in the latest national doubles rankings. Their next opponents, Georgia Tech's Paige Hourigan and Kenya Jones, jumped from No. 4 to No. 1.
So with a top-2 doubles matchup looming, Aney went to work, inviting approximately 50 people to the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center for perhaps her and Graham's biggest test so far this season.
"We love playing anybody that pushes us, and when you're playing the No. 1 team in the nation, it's some added hype," Aney said. "We love matches where we can come out and be fiery and be excited about winning."
And lately, they've had plenty to be excited about.
Although the top-ranked Tar Heels fell 4-3 against No. 6 Georgia Tech, Aney and Graham dominated their doubles match, winning 6-2. They then followed that performance up with a 6-3 victory against Virginia Tech's Elena Cerezo-Codina and Caroline Daxhelet in Sunday's 7-0 win over the Hokies, extending their winning streak to 12 matches.
Aney and Graham currently sit at 13-1 in dual matches and 7-0 in ACC play. Thanks largely to them, UNC (17-2, 6-1 ACC) has seized the doubles point in all but two matches this spring, including Saturday's.
The duo's doubles success isn't unprecedented. Over the last five seasons, four other Tar Heel tandems have also been ranked in the top five of the national doubles rankings. That includes the team of Aney and Hayler Carter, who claimed All-America honors in doubles last season and won a doubles national title at the 2016 Riviera/ITA All-American Championships.
But what exactly makes Aney and Graham work so well together?
"They have a lot of fun together and their styles match up," Brian Kalbas said. "Alexa is really good at setting Jessie up, and Jessie has a lot of free reign when Alexa is serving well and striking the ball well; Jessie can kind of float at the net and knock off volleys.
"It's their chemistry, their belief and just their toughness out there (that make them successful)."
Aney, a junior who graduated from high school one year early, and Graham, a sophomore, played four doubles matches together last season. They went 3-1. But they started developing a strong rapport long before then.
At the age of 14, Aney, from Rochester, Minn., met Graham, from Garden City, N.Y., at a USTA camp in Florida. On the first night, Aney said they joined fellow campers and coaches for dinner at a Maggiano's Little Italy, where the coaches ordered appetizers for everyone. One specific square-shaped item bewildered them, as neither could tell if it was fried mozzarella or chicken.
"Alexa was like, 'OK, try it. If it's mozzarella, I don't want any. But if it's chicken, I want some,'" Aney recalled. "I cut myself a little piece and I'm trying it, and I'm like, 'Oh, yeah, it's chicken.' She's like, 'OK, give me a piece.' She tried to cut it and (cheese) just strings over the table.
"That's the first time we met, and she was like, 'We're going to be great friends.'"
Graham's prediction held true. And the closeness between her and Aney is evident every time they take the court. They feed off each other; Graham provides energy, and Aney serves as more of a calming influence.
"Being best friends and then getting to play with (Aney), we laugh a lot on the court," Graham said. "It keeps it light and easy, and we're never really stressing or anything."
"We just have a lot of fun," Aney said. "And in doubles, that's so important, especially with these short matches. Coming out and just taking it to them and being in their face right away, I think that gets us really good starts, and it's not that hard to finish once you're up in a set."
That was the case against Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech.
Facing Hourigan and Jones, Aney and Graham got an early break to go up 3-1. They then won three of the next four games to seal the 6-2 victory. The next day, they trailed Cerezo-Codina and Daxhelet 2-1 before taking four straight games en route to a 6-3 win.
The latter victory matched Aney and Graham's narrowest in six March matches, all against ACC opponents. They also won 6-3 against Miami's Estela Perez-Somarriba and Sofia Sewing. In their four other wins this month, Aney and Graham dropped just six total games.
For both, their success in doubles has also translated to singles.
After splitting her matches against Georgia Tech's Nami Otsuka and Virginia Tech's Katherine Butler, Aney, ranked No. 47 in singles, is 7-2 over her last nine matches. Graham, ranked No. 70, notched straight-set wins over No. 115 Ida Jarlskog and Cerezo-Codina. She's now 18-0 in dual matches and 7-0 in ACC play.
Kalbas said Graham's stellar singles play has largely been the result of an improved transition game, which Graham attributed to playing a lot of doubles.
"I feel like I've just been really not putting a lot of pressure on myself," Graham said. "I've been staying calm on the court and really just enjoying it, and I've been successful in doing that."
Before the spring season, Kalbas said finding the right combinations in doubles was going to be a priority. That appears to still be the case with seven matches left in the regular season, as the pairs of Marika Akkerman/Alle Sanford and Sara Daavettila/Makenna Jones made their season debuts against Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech.
But the Tar Heels have found consistency with Aney and Graham.
"To play next to Jessie and Alexa, especially with how well they've been doing lately, it's kind of inspiring to look down as they're literally killing it," Sanford said. "They can be out there and go up immediately, and it inspires you to want to do the same thing."
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