University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Florida
Tar Heels Bow Out In National Semifinals
May 24, 2010 | Women's Tennis
May 24, 2010
ATHENS, Ga. --- No. 2 North Carolina saw its storybook season come to an end Monday as the Tar Heels fell to third-seeded Florida, 4-0, at the University of Georgia's Dan Magill Tennis Complex. Florida (29-2) got singles wins on courts one, two and three after winning the doubles point to advance to Tuesday's national championship match against Stanford. Carolina finishes with a program-best record of 30-5 that matches the Atlantic Coast Conference record for dual match victories in a season.
The Tar Heels found themselves in an early hole for the second straight match, as the Gators got wins at Nos. 2 and 3 to earn the first point. Caroline Hitimana and Anastasia Revzina topped Jelena Durisic and Jocelyn Ffriend, 8-1, on court three before No. 29 Lauren Embree and Joanna Mather defeated No. 31 Katrina Tsang and Shinann Featherston, 8-4, on court two.
Facing an uphill climb in singles, UNC never stopped fighting and kept the match going for close to four hours.
UF got wins from No. 8 Allie Will on court two and No. 65 Marrit Boonstra on court three to push the Tar Heels to the brink, but Carolina threatened to win on each of the other four courts.
At No. 4, Gina Suarez-Malaguti won the opening set from No. 102 Revzina and the match was tied at 3 in the final set when the dual was stopped.
On court five, Featherston quickly dropped the opening set to Mather but rallied to even the match with a 6-3 win in the second frame. After falling behind 4-1 to open the third, Featherston got it back to 4-3 and was on serve when the Gators clinched.
Zoe De Bruycker joined her classmate Suarez-Malaguti in winning her opening set at No. 6. After racing out to a 4-0 lead against Claire Bartlett, De Bruycker held off a furious comeback attempt to win the set, 7-5.
Ultimately, however, it was No. 9 Embree's three-set victory over No. 21 Marand that clinched the win for Florida. After losing the first set 6-2, Marand regrouped to dominate the second frame, winning 6-1. An up-and-down final set went 7-5 in favor of Embree, however, and the Gators advanced to face eighth-seeded Stanford for the NCAA title Tuesday afternoon.
For UNC, the loss ends the most successful team season in program history. The 2010 Tar Heels joined the 1983 Clemson squad that finished 30-5 and Duke's 30-3 team from 2003 as the winningest teams in ACC history. Carolina also advanced to the national semifinals for the first time and spent much of the spring as the No. 1 team in the ITA national rankings.
Next up are the NCAA individual events, with Marand and Tsang set to represent UNC in singles and Marand and Grabinski featuring in the doubles draw. Tsang and Featherston are currently alternates and will learn their fate Tuesday.
No. 3 Florida 4, No. 2 UNC 0
Doubles
1. #5 Boonstra/Will (UF) vs. #13 Marand/Grabinski (UNC), 6-3, DNF
2. #29 Embree/Mather (UF) def. #31 Tsang/Featherston (UNC), 8-4
3. Caroline Hitimana/Revzina (UF) def. Jelena Durisic/Jocelyn Ffriend (UNC), 8-1
Order of finish: 3, 2
Singles
1. #9 Lauren Embree (UF) def. #21 Sanaz Marand (UNC), 6-2, 1-6, 7-5
2. #8 Allie Will (UF) def. #54 Katrina Tsang (UNC), 6-3, 6-3
3. #65 Marrit Boonstra (UF) def. Sophie Grabinski (UNC), 6-2, 6-2
4. #102 Anastasia Revzina (UF) vs. Gina Suarez-Malaguti (UNC), 4-6, 6-4, 3-3, DNF
5. Joanna Mather (UF) vs. Shinann Featherston (UNC), 6-2, 3-6, 4-3, DNF
6. Claire Bartlett (UF) vs. Zoe De Bruycker (UNC), 5-7, 2-2, DNF
Order of finish: 3, 2, 1*
Players Mentioned
