Carolina women’s tennis got its fall slate rolling on Friday with a strong opening across two separate tournaments, collecting 10 singles wins and eight doubles victories between Chapel Hill and Milwaukee.
At the Kitty Harrison Invitational, nine Tar Heels opened play at home while the rest of the roster competed at the Milwaukee Tennis Classic. The day in Chapel Hill belonged to a few familiar names, with UNC putting together a clean sweep in doubles from one pairing and a pair of ranked singles wins to highlight the start of the weekend.
The doubles courts were busy right away at the Kitty Harrison Invitational, and two Carolina teams finished the first day unbeaten. Nicole Khirin and Tatum Evans went 2-0, as did Maddy Zampardo and Susanna Maltby.
Carolina’s singles results were just as steady. Susanna Maltby opened the day with a straight-set win, and No.
21 Tatum Evans followed by knocking off No. 32 Vivian Yang of Virginia in straight sets.
Zampardo then delivered one of the day’s tighter matches, pulling out a three-set win that included a tiebreak and giving her first ranked win of the year. Thea Rabman also picked up a straight-set victory over her Charlotte opponent.
UNC’s doubles results in Chapel Hill included wins by Khirin/Evans over Virginia and Michigan, Zampardo/Maltby over Charlotte and Duke, Nguyen/Ashar over Kansas State, and Rabman/Manning over Michigan after an earlier loss to Virginia.
In singles at the Kitty Harrison Invitational, Carolina also got wins from Rabman over Amalie Widdowson of Charlotte. The Tar Heels did take some losses as well, with No.
95 Nicole Khirin falling to No. 48 Katie Rolls of Virginia, Avery Nguyen dropping a three-set match to No.
64 Emily Sartz-Lunde of Michigan, No. 85 Alexis Nguyen losing a three-setter to Linea Bajrailiu of Georgia, and Ishika Ashar edged by Ariel Avidan of JMU in a third-set tiebreak.
Carolina will be back at 9 a.m. Saturday for another round of doubles in Chapel Hill.
In Milwaukee, the Tar Heels started fast in doubles, too. Mary Grace Rennard and Alana Boyce earned a 6-2 win, while No. 14 Alanis Hamilton and Anna Frey took their match 6-3.
The singles side brought more momentum. Frey went 2-0 on the day, beating Ema Bubalo of CU and then Tianna Rangan of Wisconsin in straight sets. Hamilton also stayed perfect, defeating Elise Barnstedt of Marquette and Karolina Jacobson of Milwaukee without dropping a set.
Boyce added a pair of wins as well. She beat Deborah Dominguez Collado of LU in straight sets, then came through in a second match that went to a tiebreak. Rennard’s day was split, as she lost to Lyla Messler of Illinois and then fell to Thea Latak of Wisconsin in straight sets.
Carolina is set to resume play in Milwaukee on Saturday at 10:30 a.m.
In Other News...
Caleb Wilson's UNC Return Could Matter More Than Fans Realize
Caleb Wilson is back in Chapel Hill at the right moment for North Carolina basketball, arriving during one of the programs biggest recruiting weekends of the summer. The former Tar Heel and recent NBA first-round pick remains a familiar, appealing figure around the program, and his visit comes as UNC hosts elite prospects CJ Rosser and Jordan Page on official visits.
For a staff trying to sell both the present and the future, Wilsons ties to the program give the weekend an extra layer of credibility. UNC is still fighting other schools for both five-star targets, and having a player with his profile around campus only helps the pitch as the Tar Heels look to strengthen their next class. [Read more 🡒]
UNC Suddenly Has A Shot At A Top 2027 Guard
North Carolinas 2027 recruiting board has a new name to track in Jalen Davis, a top-20 point guard who has recently drawn the Tar Heels into his process. Davis has lined up an official visit to Chapel Hill on Oct. 3, giving UNC a chance to make an impression early in what already looks like a national-level battle for one of the classs more coveted guards.
The visit list says plenty about the competition around him, with Stanford, Iowa, UCLA and Gonzaga also in the mix. UNCs staff already got a live look at Davis during a recent game, and the next step will be turning that scouting trip into a stronger connection once he gets on campus, where the Tar Heels will try to show why they belong in the conversation for one of the countrys best young point guards. [Read more 🡒]
UNC Still Has Work To Do In Pursuit Of Elite 2027 Guard
The chase for Adan Diggs is still very much alive, but North Carolina appears to have some catching up to do. The elite shooting guard, who reclassified into the Class of 2027, has trimmed his list to seven schools and remains one of the more coveted names on the board, giving the Tar Heels a legitimate foothold in a national recruitment that is already drawing plenty of attention.
Diggs is currently projected to lean toward staying close to home in Arizona, where he has an official visit lined up, and that adds another layer of difficulty for UNC. The Tar Heels are still in the mix, which matters, but they are not viewed as the front-runner right now, leaving Hubert Davis and his staff with more work to do if they want to make this a real battle down the stretch. [Read more 🡒]