Oct. 24, 2009

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. --- North Carolina's Sophie Grabinski and Sanaz Marand advanced to the semifinals of the Wilson/ITA Carolinas Regional Championships Saturday at the Indoor Tennis Center on the campus of Wake Forest University. Grabinski and Marand, the No. 1 seed and defending champions, topped teammates Haley Hemm and Jocelyn Ffriend, 8-5, for the chance to face Duke's Amanda Granson and Ellah Nze in Sunday's semis. Marand also moved to the quarterfinals of the singles event with a pair of wins.

The senior tandem of Marand and Grabinski, which did not drop a game in two matches Friday, moved to within two wins of a title defense with the win over Hemm and Ffriend. In addition to Granson and Nze, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, Duke's Reka Zsilinszka and Liz Plotkin and Clemson's Josipa Bek and Ina Hadziselimovic advanced Saturday to make it an all-ACC semifinal round.

On the singles side, only Marand survived to play in Sunday's quarterfinals. The Katy, Texas, product and top seed defeated Gardner-Webb's Erica White and Wake Forest's Ryann Cutillo in straight sets to advance to the quarters, where she will face Duke's Zsilinkska, the No. 6 seed.

Senior Katrina Tsang was the only other Tar Heel to post a victory Saturday, defeating Wake Forest's Emilee Malvehy, 6-2, 6-3, before falling to Clemson's Nelly Ciolkowski in the round of 16.

Grabinski and Marand will begin their semifinal doubles match at 9 a.m. Sunday, with Marand's quarterfinal singles match scheduled for 10:30.

Doubles
Sanaz Marand/Sophie Grabinski (UNC) def. Haley Hemm/Jocelyn Ffriend (UNC), 8-5
Reka Zsilinszka/Liz Plotkin (Duke) def. Katrina Tsang/Shinann Featherston (UNC), 8-5

Singles
Sanaz Marand (UNC) def. Erica White (G-W), 6-1, 6-2
Marand (UNC) def. Ryann Cutillo (WFU), 6-3, 6-2
Reka Zsilinkska (Duke) def. Gina Suarez-Malaguti (UNC), 6-1, 6-1
Anna Zubori (USC) def. Jelena Durisic (UNC), 6-3, 6-4
Katrina Tsang (UNC) def. Emilee Malvehy (WFU), 6-2, 6-3
Nelly Ciolkowski (CU) def. Tsang (UNC), 6-3, 6-7, 6-4
Ina Hadziselimovic (CU) def. Haley Hemm (UNC), 6-1, 1-6, 6-2
Sasha Kulikova (WFU) def. Zoe De Bruycker (UNC), 6-3, 6-0