North Carolina
Maryland
No. 5 Carolina Stops Maryland, 5-2
April 14, 2012 | Women's Tennis
April 14, 2012
CHAPEL HILL --- No. 5 North Carolina rebounded from its first Atlantic Coast Conference loss in impressive fashion, rolling to a 5-2 win over visiting Maryland Saturday afternoon at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center. The Tar Heels dropped the doubles point but rallied to take five singles matches and improve to 19-5 on the season and 9-1 in the ACC.
Carolina got off to an inauspicious start, dropping the doubles point for the second consecutive match. The No. 26 Terrapin duo of Ana Belzunce and Welma Luus outlasted the No. 2 doubles team in the country, Carolina's Shinann Featherston and Lauren McHale, by a score of 8-6 at the number one position.
No. 47 Haley Hemm and Tessa Lyons quickly countered at number two, winning the deciding tiebreaker 7-3 and taking their match 9-8. That left court three to decide the outcome of the afternoon's first point, and Maryland's Jordan Hansbrough and Mikele Irazusta took a 9-7 victory over Laura Slater and Jennifer Stone to give the point to the Terps (7-13, 1-9 ACC).
Carolina wasted no time in responding during singles play. Hemm, thrust into the singles lineup after a late scratch of McHale, rolled to a 6-1, 6-1 victory on court six to even the score at one. Freshman Caroline Price followed with her own equally impressive 6-2, 6-2 win on court three to give the Heels their first lead of the afternoon.
Gina Suarez-Malaguti and Lyons then had a race to see who could clinch the win for the Tar Heels. Lyons worked her way to a 6-4, 6-2 win over Irazusta on court five, and was quickly followed by Suarez-Malaguti's 7-6, 6-3 win on court four to give Carolina the victory.
No. 89 Featherston battled to a 7-6, 6-3 win on court two for UNC's final point, while Maryland's Cristina Stancu tallied the team's only singles win of the day with a 7-6, 6-2 win over Zoe De Bruycker on court one.
Carolina will close out its regular season against Boston College Sunday at 1 p.m. The match will be the final regular seasonhome match for seniors Featherston, Hemm and Stone.
No. 5 North Carolina 5, Maryland 2
Doubles
1. #26 Belzunce/Luus (MD) def. #2 Featherston/McHale (UNC) 8-6
2. #47 Hemm/Lyons (UNC) def. Stancu/Van Berlo (MD), 9-8 (3)
3. Hansbrough/Irazusta (MD) def. Slater/Stone (UNC), 9-7
Order of finish: 1,2, 3
Singles
1. #28 Cristina Stancu (MD) def. #37 Zoe De Bruycker (UNC) 7-6 (1), 6-2
2. #89 Shinann Featherston (UNC) def. Ana Belzunce (MD), 7-6 (2), 6-3
3. #115 Caroline Price (UNC) def. Vroni Von Berlo (MD), 6-2, 6-2
4. Gina Suarez-Malaguti (UNC) def. Welma Luus (MD), 7-6 (2), 6-3
5. Tessa Lyons (UNC) def. Mikele Irazusta (MD), 6-4, 6-2
6. Haley Hemm (UNC) def. Jordan Hansbrough (MD), 6-1, 6-1
Order of finish: 6, 3, 5, 4, 2, 1
Players Mentioned
