UNC Tennis: Sara Daavettila and Makenna Jones / Elizabeth Scotty Reach Final Four
ORLANDO - While the North Carolina men’s and women’s tennis teams didn’t end their seasons the way they hoped to from a team standpoint, several Tar Heels have the opportunity to atone by winning an individual singles or doubles championship.
Immediately following the NCAA Team National Championships the NCAA holds men’s and women’s singles and doubles championships
No men’s participants remain in the draw for Carolina, but UNC has an entrant in the women’s singles and doubles final four.
The championships will continue on Thursday, May 27.
On the singles side, Tar Heel and no. 1 seed Sara Daavettila will take on no. 3 seed Emma Navarro (Virginia) at noon ET. The winner will take on either no. 2 seed Estela Perez-Somarriba (Miami) or unseeded Janice Tjen (Oregon) in the championship match on Friday.
To reach the semifinals, Daavettila defeated Solymar Colling of San Diego 3-6, 6-1, 6-3; Lea Ma of Georgia 6-4, 6-4, Jessica Failla of Pepperdine 6-3, 6-2, and Christina Rosca of Vanderbilt 6-2, 6-4.
Daavettila and Navarro played each other in the ACC Semifinals, but the match went unfinished as Carolina clinched the victory while play was underway. At the point of the stoppage, Daavettila was down 6-3, 2-6, 4-5.
In the doubles bracket, the fourth-ranked Carolina duo of Makenna Jones and Elizabeth Scotty will take on unseeded Alana Smith and Anna Rogers from NC State. The two teams didn’t face off when the Tar Heels and Wolfpack played during the regular season since Jones/Scotty play no. 2 doubles and Rogers/Smith play no. 1 doubles.
To reach the semifinals Jones/Scotty defeated Ava Hrastar and Gia Cohen of Georgia Tech 3-6, 6-3, 1-0 (12), Katarina Kozarov and Julie Adams of Furman 2-6, 7-6 (2), 1-0 (9), and Sofia Munera and Natasha Subhash of Virginia 6-3, 6-3.
Today’s match is slated to start at 4:00 p.m. ET.
Several other Tar Heels competed in the men’s and women’s singles and doubles championships.
In women’s singles, beyond Daavettila, Alexa Graham made it the furthest for the Tar Heels, reaching the Sweet 16 before falling to the aforementioned Perez-Somarriba of Miami 3-6, 3-6. Graham’s victories came against Akvile Parazinskaite of Kentucky 6-1, 6-0 and Natasha Subhash of Virginia 6-7 (6), 6-0, 6-1.
In addition to playing doubles, Makenna Jones competed in the singles bracket and lost in the first round to Meg Kowalski of Georgia 2-6, 2-6.
Fiona Crawley also fell in the first round, losing to Ayana Akli of Maryland 5-7, 5-7. Cameron Morra lost in the first round 2-6, 3-6 to Irina Cantos Siemers of Ohio State.
Carolina’s other entrant in women’s doubles was no. 2 Sara Daavetilla and Cameron Morra. They won their first match 7-5, 6-1 over Kolie Allen and Isabelle Boulais of Ohio State, but then fell Kylie Collins and Lulu Sun of Texas 0-6, 1-6.
In men’s singles, UNC had two entrants – William Blumberg and Rinky Hijikata.
Blumberg ended his brilliant career losing in the Elite Eight 4-6, 1-6 to Adrian Boitan of Baylor. To reach the Elite Eight, Blumberg defeated Cannon Kingsley of Ohio State 6-4, 6-4, no. 3 seed Hady Habib of Texas A&M 7-5, 6-2, and Gabriel Diallo of Kentucky 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.
Hijikata made it to the Sweet 16 before losing to no. 4 seed Val Vacherot of Texas A&M 2-6, 6-3, 1-6. To make the Sweet 16, Hijikata knocked off Ronnie Hohmann of LSU 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (4) and Eduardo Nava of Wake Forest 7-6 (2), 6-4.
The men’s lone entrant in the double’s bracket was the no. 2 pair of Blumberg and Brian Cernoch. Unfortunately for Blumberg, on the same day he lost in singles to someone from Baylor, he fell to a Baylor doubles team. The combo of Sven Lah and Constantin Frantzen beat Blumberg/Cernoch 6-4, 0-6, 1-0 (7) in the Elite Eight. The Tar Heels had defeated Will Davies and Oliver Okonkwo of Iowa 7-6 (7), 6-2 and Rithvik Bollipalli and Jaco Wojcik of South Florida 7-5, 6-7 (3), 1-0 (8).
Make sure to tune in on Thursday to cheer on the women as they compete in the semifinals.
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