2 Singles, 1 Doubles Team Reach NCAA Quarterfinals

ORLANDO - North Carolina women's tennis standouts Sara Daavettila and Cameron Morra continued their stellar play at the NCAA Singles Championship on Wednesday by reaching the quarterfinals and gaining All-America honors in the process. Makenna Jones and Morra advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Doubles Championship.

Daavettila, who also reached the quarterfinals as a freshman in 2017, joins Hayley Carter and Jamie Loeb as the only three players in program history to reach multiple quarterfinals at the NCAA Singles Championship. Meanwhile, Morra becomes the eighth player at Carolina to make the quarters.

Two of the top freshman in the nation squared up on Wednesday evening in a match that took nearly three hours to complete. No. 46 Morra and No. 32 Elysia Bolton of UCLA both garnered the freshman of the year award in their respective conferences, Morra in the ACC and Bolton out of the Pac-12.

Morra fell behind 5-1 in the first set, rallied to draw even 5-5 and forced a tiebreaker at 6-6, but couldn't keep her momentum up as Bolton cruised 7-1 in the breaker. The second set also went to a tiebreaker with Bolton moments away from winning, but this time Carolina's rookie standout took care of business, 7-6 (6) to force a third set.

Morra dug deep as the match pushed near three hours in length. The Rockville, Md., native took an early lead and won 6-2 in the final set. Morra is victorious over her last 13 singles decisions and increases her win total to 30 in her freshman campaign.

Next up for Morra is Texas Tech senior Felicity Maltby on Thursday.

No. 20 Daavettila faced 58 Solymar Colling of San Diego with a spot in the quarterfinals on the line. The Tar Heel junior was efficient in winning consecutive sets by identical 6-3 score lines. The Williamston, Michigan, product has now beaten four ranked opponents in a row and improves to 8-0 in the NCAA postseason.

Daavettila will take on No. 21 Kelly Chen of Duke in a rematch of the ACC Championship No. 3 singles match that went to the Blue Devil sophomore in three sets. Daavettila hasn't lost since that contest on April 21 in Cary, N.C.

No. 7 Alexa Graham enjoyed an early lead but let that slip away as the opening set wound up going in favor of No. 43 Asuka Kawai of Illinois, 7-5. Kawai closed out the match in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals.

Graham finishes her singles campaign with a 37-7 overall record, the fourth most wins by a Tar Heel junior in program history. The Garden City, N.Y., native earned ITA All-America honors by virtue of her No. 7 national ranking and was named first team All-ACC. Graham also garnered the ITA National Player to Watch award for the 2018-19 season.

With Daavettila gaining All-America status, the Tar Heels now boast five All-Americans for the second year in a row. Alexa Graham, Makenna Jones and Morra are All-Americans in both singles and doubles, and Jessie Aney earned doubles honors for the third year in a row.

Carolina's two doubles teams once again played late night tennis at the USTA National Campus. No. 2 seed Aney and Graham were upended 6-1, 6-3 at the hands of Georgia's Lourdes Carle and Katarina Jokic.

Aney's remarkable four-year career at UNC came to a close on Wednesday night. The three-time All-America doubles player finishes tied third all-time in Tar Heel history with 127 singles wins, while also collecting 111 doubles victories. Regarded as one of the top youth hockey players growing up in the state of Minnesota, Aney plans on playing ice hockey and attend graduate school at UConn for the 2019-20 season.

No. 12 Makenna Jones and Morra, who knocked off the defending national champions from LSU on Tuesday, took the court approximately 30 minutes after Morra finished up her marathon singles match. It took nearly 90 minutes, but Jones and Morra advanced 7-5, 7-6 (6) over No. 26 Kuznetsova and Zeleva of UCF, who play their home matches at the USTA campus.

They will face third seed Andrews and Broomfield of UCLA on Thursday.

NCAA Singles Championship

Quarterfinals - May 23, 2019
#46 Cameron Morra (UNC) vs. #22 Felicity Maltby (Texas Tech)
#20 Sara Daavettila (UNC) vs. #21 Kelly Chen (Duke)

Round of 16 - May 22, 2019
#46 Cameron Morra (UNC) def. #32 Elysia Bolton (UCLA) 6-7 (1), 7-6 (6), 6-2
#20 Sara Daavettila (UNC) def. #58 Solymar Colling (San Diego) 6-3, 6-3
No. 43 Asuka Kawai (Illinois) def. [7] #7 Alexa Graham (UNC) 7-5, 6-3

Second Round - May 21, 2019
[7] #7 Alexa Graham (UNC) def. #37 Ashley Lahey (Pepp) 7-6 (4), 6-4
#46 Cameron Morra (UNC) def. [9-16] #19 Marta Gonzalez (UGA) 7-6, 6-2
#20 Sara Daavettila (UNC) def. #27 Justina Mikulskyte (Kentucky) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4

First Round - May 20, 2019
[7] #7 Alexa Graham (UNC) def. #49 Ellie Douglas (TCU) 6-2, 5-7, 7-5
#46 Cameron Morra (UNC) def. #34 Silvia Ambrosio (Purdue), 0-6, 6-2, 6-0
#20 Sara Daavettila (UNC) def. [3] #3 Kate Fahey (MICH) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
#24 Michaela Gordon (STAN) def. [5] #5 Makenna Jones (UNC) 6-2, 6-1

NCAA Doubles Championship
Quarterfinals - May 23, 2019
[5-8] #12 Jones/Morra (UNC) vs. [3] #5 Andrews/Broomfield (UCLA)

Round of 16 - May 22, 2019
[5-8] #12 Jones/Morra (UNC) def. #26 Kuznetsova/Zeleva (UCF) 7-5, 7-6 (6)
#28 Carle/Jokic (UGA) def. [2] #2 Aney/Graham (UNC) 6-1, 6-3

First Round - May 21, 2019
[2] #2 Aney/Graham (UNC) def. #29 Arbuthnott/Gordon (STAN) 6-2, 6-4
[5-8] #12 Jones/Morra (UNC) def. #27 Golovin/Richardson (LSU) 6-2, 5-7, 1-0 (4)

Scoreboard Slider

University of North Carolina Athletics

Players Mentioned

Jessie Aney

Sara Daavettila

Alexa Graham

Makenna Jones

Cameron Morra

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