Hurricanes Drop 4-3 Battle To No. 5 UNC

CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The University of Miami women’s tennis team fell 4-3 in a hard-fought battle against No. 5 North Carolina on Sunday afternoon.

UNC (9-2) opened the match with a clinched doubles point over Miami (3-3). The top-ranked doubles pair of Elizabeth Scotty and Carson Tanguilig defeated Isabella Pfennig and Xinyi Nong, 6-2, on court one and followed it up with a 6-3 win from Fiona Crawley and Reilly Tran over Miami’s Leonie Schuknecht and Antonia Balzert.

When play was halted, Alexa Noel and Audrey Boch-Collins were down 5-4 to Abbey Forbes and Tatum Evans on court three.

The Tarheels kept the momentum going and took the first singles court. No. 50 Tran defeated Schuknecht, 6-1, 6-1, on court four to go up 2-0 on the Canes.

Miami answered with a top-court win from No. 10 Noel over No. 25 Crawley, 6-3, 6-1. UNC extended its lead when No. 54 Thea Rabman claimed court six, 6-3, 0-6, 6-2, against Nong.

The Hurricanes secured back-to-back courts to even the score at three-all. No. 101 Boch-Collins defeated No. 85 Abbey Forbes, 6-0, 3-6, 6-4, while Balzert took the No. 3 court with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over No. 11 Anika Yarlagadda.

Coming down to the last court, No. 67 Pfennig battled to three sets with No. 14 Tanguilig. Despite pushing it to a tiebreak, Tanguilig took the court 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (6) to clinch the match for the Tarheels.

The Hurricanes will return to action on March 10 when they face in-state rival Florida State.