North Carolina
Duke
Tar Heels Take Tough Loss To Blue Devils In Sweet Sixteen
May 19, 2006 | Women's Tennis
May 19, 2006
PALO ALTO, CALIF. - Meeting for the second head-to-head competition of the year, the No. 8 North Carolina women's tennis team faced off against No. 10 Duke in the Sweet 16 held at Stanford University in the 2006 NCAA Team Championships. The arch-rivals battled it out in the regular season on April 5, with the Blue Devils taking the match 4-3 in the last set; this time it was an exact rematch of April 5. Carolina jumped off to a 1-0 lead, but the Blue Devils won four out of six singles matches to clinch the win 4-1 and advance to the Elite Eight. Duke will face the winner of the Stanford-TCU match-up on Friday. Carolina has advanced to the Sweet Sixteen four out of the last five years; in 2005 the Tar Heels beat the Blue Devils in the second round to reach the Sweet Sixteen. North Carolina ends the 2006 season with one of the best records in school history, 26-7.
The Tar Heel doubles tandems all jumped off to great starts, taking vast leads over their opponents, only to have the Blue Devils battle back to the bitter end. With all three seeds going into tie-breaks, Carolina took a 1-0 lead with the doubles point being clinched at the one seed. At number one doubles, the No. 6 North Carolina duo of Sara Anundsen and Jenna Long took a 4-0 lead over Daniela Bereck and Jennifer Zika, who fought back to bring the match to a six-all tie. The Blue Devils took an 8-7 lead, but Anundsen and Long brought the match to an eight-all tie. The Tar Heel duo took the match 9-8 in the tie-break, clinching the doubles point for North Carolina. The Tar Heel junior tandem finishes the season 36-11, leading Carolina in doubles wins.
Taking on Melissa Mang and Jackie Carleton for the first time this year at number two doubles, Caitlin Collins and Tanja Markovic battled to an eight-all tie, where the Blue Devils took the lead, 9-7, forcing the match to a tie-break. Collins and Markovic took a 6-5 lead in the tie-break and took the match 9-8. Collins and Markovic finish at 17-7 on the season. At No. 3 doubles, the freshman tandem of Meg Fanjoy and Austin Smith jumped out to a great start, taking a 4-1 lead over Jessi Robinson and Tara Iyer. Fanjoy and Smith forced the match to a 6-4 lead, only to have Robinson and Iyer take the match with a 9-7 lead. The freshmen tandem finishes out the season with an overall record of 30-9.
In singles action, Duke dominated the Tar Heels in first sets, only dropping one at the one seed. Junior Jenna Long, ranked 38th in the nation, took some sweet revenge against No. 4 Daniela Bercek, who defeated Long in the regular season in straight sets, by taking the first set, 6-3. The Blue Devils garnered the first sets at every other seed.
In a rehash of the regular season match, Duke pulled out four singles wins to take the victory over North Carolina. The Blue Devils saw wins at the two, four, five and six seeds; the one and three spots were suspended as Duke clinched the match 4-1 in the meantime. In straight sets, No. 32 Jackie Carleton, No. 88 Tara Iyer, No. 102 Clelia Deltour and Jessi Robinson defeated No. 75 Caitlin Collins, Austin Smith, Laura Reichert and Tanja Markovic, respectively. Melissa Mang, ranked 71st in the nation, was at match-point at court three over No. 103 Sara Anundsen before suspension, while the fourth-ranked Daniela Bercek led the second set over No. 38 Jenna Long 5-2.
For the second time this season, Carleton topped Collins, who ends the season 25-18. Iyer also beat Smith for the second time at the four seed; freshman Smith remains the singles leader for Carolina with a record of 30-13, Long follows right behind Smith one win short. Lone senior Markovic ends her season 24-13, while freshman Reichert closes out with an impressive 26-11 record. Anundsen, whose match was suspended, ends her junior year with an overall record of 25-11.
Freshman Jessi Robinson clinched the match for Duke at the six seed over Carolina senior Tanja Markovic. Robinson lost to Carolina freshman Reichert in the regular season match, 6-7, 3-6.
Juniors Anundsen and Long will compete in the NCAA Individuals Tournament in the doubles draw to follow the Team Championships; competition will begin May 23. Anundsen and Long received All-America status with the bid to the Individual Tournament. The Tar Heel duo made school history as the first tandem to reach the ITA National Indoors Finals in November where they fell to Stanford's own Anne Yelsey and Alice Barnes 8-5. The duo started out the pre-season ranked No. 16 and has risen as high as fifth in the nation and remains at No. 6 for the second week in a row.
No. 8 North Carolina 1, No. 10 Duke 4
Doubles:
1. No. 6 Sara Anundsen/Jenna Long (UNC) d. No. 31 Daniela Bercek/Jennifer Zika (Duke) 9-8 (3) *
2. Caitlin Collins/Tanja Markovic (UNC) d. Jackie Carleton/Melissa Mang (Duke) 9-8 (7-5)
3. Tara Iyer/Jessi Robinson (Duke) d. Meg Fanjoy/Austin Smith (UNC) 9-7
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1
*Clinched the doubles point
Singles:
1. No. 38 Jenna Long (UNC) vs. No. 4 Daniela Bercek (Duke) DNF 6-3, 2-5
2. No. 32 Jackie Carleton (Duke) d. No. 75 Caitlin Collins (UNC) 6-1, 6-0
3. No. 103 Sara Anundsen (UNC) vs. No. 71 Melissa Mang (Duke) DNF 2-6, 5-5
4. No. 88 Tara Iyer (Duke) d. Austin Smith (UNC) 6-0, 6-2
5. No. 102 Clelia Deltour (Duke) d. Laura Reichert (UNC) 6-2, 6-3
6. Jessi Robinson (Duke) d. Tanja Markovic (UNC) 6-3, 6-1*
Order of finish: 4, 2, 5, 6
* Clinched the match
Players Mentioned
