CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The seventh-ranked Vanderbilt women’s tennis team rallied from a 2-3 deficit to take down the top-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels, 4-3 on Sunday.
Fernanda Contreras overcame a 2-5 third-set deficit to force a match tiebreaker and later clinch VU’s upset over the No. 1 Tar Heels, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(4). Sunday’s victory is the squad’s third ranked win over a top-three team and second win over the top-ranked squad in the country. Vandy previously swept then-No. 1 Stanford on Feb. 3.
“It was a prize fight of a match,” said head coach Geoff Macdonald. “Today’s win was a character win because we had a tough loss at Northwestern on Friday… so I give the team a lot of credit for embracing the difficulty of our schedule. Five and six winning was phenomenal… they showed tremendous poise. So I gave the game ball to Summer Dvorak. I thought she did an incredible job winning at No. 6 against a very seasoned player. Overall, it’s a quality win. North Carolina is a program that we hold in extremely high regard.”
From first serve on, Sunday’s match was a battle. Christina Rosca and Amanda Meyer picked up the first win of the day, as the Commodore duo downed Makenna Jones and Marika Allerman 6-4 in a tight contest on court three.
Following the Tar Heel loss, UNC earned back-to-back tiebreak victories on courts one and two to clinch the point advantage. No. 23 Astra Sharma and Contreras fell to ninth-ranked Jessie Aney and Alexa Graham, while Emma Kurtz and Emily Smith suffered a loss to No. 20 Sara Daavettila and Alle Sanford.
Putting the doubles point behind them, the Commodores won four first sets in singles play.
Amanda Meyer earned her first ranked singles victory as a Commodore to level the match score to 1-all. The freshman out of Delray Beach, Fla. defeated No. 32 Jessie Aney, an ITA All-American, in straight sets 6-3, 6-3.
Redshirt senior No. 56 Astra Sharma was locked in against eighth-ranked Alle Sanford, defeating the Tar Heel 6-3, 6-4 for the 2-1 Commodore lead.
UNC gained the 3-2 advantage as No. 93 Graham and No. 28 Daavettila earned victories at the No. 4 and No. 3 singles positions, respectively. Graham defeated No. 120 Kurtz, 6-3, 6-2, while VU’s No. 24 Rosca fell to Daavettila in three sets 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
On court six, Dvorak powered past Chloe Ouellet-Pizer in her third and final set, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, to level the score for the final time, 3-all. The victory was the junior’s fourth win at No. 6 singles.
With the match-tied at 3-all, all eyes turned to court two as No. 5 Contreras began chipping away at No. 15 Jones’s 5-2 lead. Utilizing the aggressive play, which won her the ITA All-American championship, Contreras strung together four games in a row to take the deciding match to a tiebreaker. The Austin, Texas native produced a steep 6-1 lead in the tiebreaker and then closed out the match for the comeback clinch and team victory, 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(4).
Vanderbilt opens Southeastern Conference play at home this Friday. The Commodores will host Auburn Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. and Alabama Sunday at 1 p.m.
#7 Vanderbilt 4, #1 North Carolina 3
- #56 Astra Sharma (VANDY) def. #8 Alle Sanford (NC) 6-3, 6-4
- #5 Fernanda Contreras (VANDY) def. #15 Makenna Jones (NC) 6-4, 5-7, 7-6
- #28 Sara Daavettila (NC) def. #24 Christina Rosca (VANDY) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4
- #93 Alexa Graham (NC) def. #120 Emma Kurtz (VANDY) 6-3, 6-4
- Amanda Meyer (VANDY) def. #32 Jessie Aney (NC) 6-3, 6-2
- Summer Dvorak (VANDY) def. Chloe Ouellet-Pizer (NC) 6-4, 5-7, 6-3
- #9 Jessie Aney/Alexa Graham (NC) def. #23 Astra Sharma/Fernanda Contreras (VANDY) 7-6
- #20 Sara Daavettila/Alle Sanford (NC) def. Emma Kurtz/Emily Smith (VANDY) 7-6
- Christina Rosca/Amanda Meyer (VANDY) def. Makenna Jones/Marika Akkerman (NC) 6-4
Match Notes:
Vanderbilt 7-1; National ranking #7
North Carolina 12-1; National ranking #1
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (5,1,4,3,6,2)
