The Aggie women’s tennis team suffered its first loss of the season in Chapel Hill, North Carolina on Sunday falling 4-0 at the hands of No. 5 North Carolina, splitting its recent road trip 1-1 and bringing the team’s record to 3-1 overall.
North Carolina came out from the opening serve with a sense of urgency that the Aggies were unable to match. UNC head coach Brian Kalbas understood the level of competition he would see from the Aggies, and made sure his players were prepared for a tough match.
“We’ve played them so many times and almost every match has come down to 4-3 so we knew that competitively it was going to be a tough match,” Kalbas said. “We showed up extremely ready to go, especially in doubles, and that kind of put the momentum in our hands.”
The Tar Heels set the tone for the match early by grabbing the crucial first doubles points with ease. No. 2 ranked doubles players Hayley Carter and Whitney Kay won their match 6-0 over Eva Paalma and Rachel Pierson while the three team for North Carolina of Ashley Dai and Chloe Ouellet-Pizer secured the point for the Tar Heels with a 6-1 win over Dominica Gonzalez and Saska Gavrilovska.
Going into singles down 1-0, the Aggies needed once again to rely on their depth throughout the roster to steal some points to get back into the match. However it was North Carolina that showed off depth Sunday, pulling away with wins from their first, fifth and sixth players including Chloe Oullette-Pizer who at the six matchup secured a 6-1, 6-1 win over Ines Deheza of A&M.
“I think we were all just really excited and energetic to go up against a good team,” Oullette-Pizer said. “It was a really good test and I’m really happy about the match.”
The Aggies will look to bounce back next weekend at the ITA National Team Indoor Championships tournament in Wisconsin. The first of four matches is scheduled for Friday in Madison. Their opponent is to be determined.