April 5, 2008

CHAPEL HILL --- No. 15 North Carolina took advantage of an injury-plagued Demon Deacon lineup to score an impressive 7-0 victory over No. 32 Wake Forest Saturday afternoon at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center. The Tar Heels got straight-set victories from Laura Reichert, Austin Smith and Sophie Grabinski en route to a sweep of five singles matches. Wake Forest was forced to default at No. 6 singles after Sierra Poske was injured during the opening game of doubles play.

UNC (14-6, 5-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) got a quick lead in doubles when Poske appeared to injure her side in the fourth point of the match at No. 1. When Poske could not continue, No. 3 Sanaz Marand and Grabinski were given the victory. Reichert and senior Alexandra Jurewitz, who was playing in her final home match as a Tar Heel, quickly dispatched Emilee Malvehy and Katarina Reveche at No. 3 doubles to secure the point. No. 51 Katrina Tsang and Smith rallied for an 8-6 win at No. 2 to complete the sweep.

With Poske unable to play her scheduled No. 3 singles match, Wake (8-9, 4-4) was forced to shuffle their lineup and default at No. 6 singles, giving Carolina a 2-0 lead. Reichert easily made it 3-0, handling Aileen Davis, 6-1, 6-0, at No. 5, before No. 97 Smith finished off Malvehy, 6-2, 6-4, at No. 3 to clinch the match.

The final three matches were much closer, but the Tar Heels prevailed in each. Grabinski made it 5-0 with her 7-5, 7-5 win over Reveche at No. 4. No. 29 Tsang dropped her opening set to Christian Tara, 6-3, before taking the second set in a one-sided tiebreak, 7-6 (1). Tsang then completed the comeback by taking the third-set tiebreak, 10-7.

At No. 1 singles, No. 8 Marand was taken to the brink before rallying to secure her 30th win of 2007-08. Kulikova took the opening set, 6-3, and had a number of match points during the second set tiebreak. But Marand ultimately won the second set, 7-6 (10), before taking the third-set tiebreak, 10-4, to give UNC the 7-0 win.

Carolina will now prepare for Tuesday's match at cross-town rival Duke. That match is set for 3 p.m. at Duke's Ambler Tennis Stadium.

DOUBLES
1. #3 Marand/Grabinksi def. Kulikova/Poske, 0-0 (ret.)
2. #51 Smith/Tsang def. Tara/Davis, 8-6
3. Reichert/Alexandra Jurewitz def. Malvehy/Reveche, 8-2
Order of finish: 1,3,2

SINGLES
1. #8 Sanaz Marand def. Sasha Kulikova, 3-6, 7-6 (10), 1-0 (4)
2. #29 Katrina Tsang def. Christian Tara, 3-6, 7-6 (1), 1-0 (7)
3. #97 Austin Smith def. Emilee Malvehy, 6-2, 6-4
4. Sophie Grabinski def. Katarina Reveche, 7-5, 7-5
5. Laura Reichert def. Aileen Davis, 6-1, 6-0
6. Meg Fanjoy won by default
Order of finish: 6,5,3,4,2,1