Carolina Duo Falls In NCAA Semis

After reaching the NCAA Women's Tennis Tournament field as alternates, North Carolina's Sara Daavettila and Alle Sanford rolled all the way to the semifinals before falling Sunday afternoon just a win shy of national championship match. Playing at Wake Forest Tennis Complex in Winston-Salem, N.C., the UNC team lost to LSU's Jessica Golovin and Eden Richardson, 3-6, 6-4, 10-6. The 29^th-ranked Tigers will face a team from Oklahoma State on Monday for the NCAA crown.

The Tar Heel duo, ranked No. 33 nationally, reached the semis by beating the top-ranked team of Paige Hourigan and Kenya Jones of Georgia Tech in the quarterfinals, 6-4, 1-6, 10-7.

Daavettila and Sanford were both eliminated in the first round of NCAA singles play. After initially thinking they wouldn't compete in the doubles draw, they now end the season with All-America honors.

This marks the second time in program history that UNC has had two doubles teams earn All-America honors in the same season The first time was in 2014, when Hayley Carter and Jamie Loeb, and Whitney Kay and Caroline Price were recognized. This season, teammates Jessie Aney and Alexa Graham also attained All-America status as the No. 2 seed in the NCAA draw. The Tar Heels have a fifth All-America honoree in Makenna Jones, who was the No. 2 seed in the singles draw.

NCAA Singles Championship
First Round - Wednesday, May 23
#33 Jada Hart (UCLA) def. #26 Alle Sanford (UNC), 6-4, 7-5
[2] #2 Makenna Jones (UNC) def. No. 35 Gabby Smith (USC) 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (2)
[9-16] #11 Astra Sharma (Vandy) def. #46 Sara Daavettila (UNC) 6-1, 6-0

Second Round - Thursday, May 24
#28 Kelly Chen (Duke) def. [2] #2 Makenna Jones (UNC) 6-3, 6-4

NCAA Doubles Championship
First Round - Thursday, May 24
#11 Contreras/Sharma (Vandy) def. [2] #2 Aney/Graham (UNC) 6-2, 6-4
#33 Sanford/Daavettila (UNC) def. #28 Dvorak/Federici (Texas Tech) 6-1, 4-6, 10-5

Second Round, Friday, May 25
#33 Sanford/Daavettila (UNC) def. #26 Gould/Jokic (UGA) 6-2, 6-2

Quarterfinals, Saturday, May 26
#33 Sanford/Daavettila (UNC) def. [1] #1 Hourigan/Jones (Georgia Tech) 6-4, 1-6, 10-7

Semifinals, Sunday, May 27
#29 Golovin/Richardson (LSU) def. #33 Sanford/Daavettila (UNC), 3-6, 6-4, 10-6

Players Mentioned

Jessie Aney

Hayley Carter

Sara Daavettila

Alexa Graham

Makenna Jones

Alle Sanford

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