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BLACKSBURG, Va. – The Virginia Tech women’s tennis team lost a heartbreaker to No. 2 North Carolina by a score of 4-3 on Friday at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center in Blacksburg. The Hokies drop to 14-6 (7-4 ACC) on the season while the Tar Heels improve to 23-2 (11-0 ACC).

The afternoon’s doubles matches were just about as tightly contested as possible, featuring three back-and-forth affairs that could have gone either way. Elena Cerezo-Codina and Sansitha Nandakumar claimed the first match of the day, defeating Ashley Dai and Chloe Ouelett-Pizer 6-4 on court 3 to get the Hokies started off on the right foot.

Francesca Fusinato and Kelly Williford had a lead against the nation’s top-ranked doubles duo in UNC’s Hayley Carter and Whitney Kay, but ultimately fell 7-5 to force a point-deciding match on court 2. There, Caroline Daxhelet and Raluca Mita battled back to knot the score at 6-6 and force a tiebreaker with Kate Vialle and Jessie Aney, but were very narrowly edged out in an 11-9 battle to give the Tar Heels an early 1-0 lead heading into singles play.

UNC took a 2-0 lead after No. 125 Daxhelet fell to No. 62 Aney 6-1, 6-3 in the 3 slot to begin singles play. Cerezo-Codina put Tech on the board with an impressive showing on court 2, cruising past the nation’s 30^th-ranked player Whitney Kay 6-3, 6-3 to move the score to 2-1 in favor of the Tar Heels. Mita followed with a win of her own on court 5, knocking off Akkerman 6-2, 6-4 to even the count at 2 apiece.

Katherine Butler got in on the scoring action for the Hokies on court 6, besting Cassandra Vazquez in three sets 6-3, 1-6, 3-6 to give Tech the 3-2 lead with two matches left to go.

No. 49 Fusinato faced a tall task in taking on the nation’s top-ranked player in the 1 spot for the second time this season, this time in UNC’s Hayley Carter. Fusinato fought but dropped the match 7-6 (5), 6-3 to tie the score at 3 and set up a match-deciding affair on court 4 between Williford and Ouelett-Pizer.

Williford had won the first set 7-6 (4) and dropped the second 3-6, setting up a true winner-take-all scenario in the third set. Keeping with the general theme of the match thus far, the third set went back and forth until Ouelett-Pizer finally pulled out a 7-5 win, giving the Tar Heels the narrow 4-3 victory in Blacksburg.

The Hokies have proven time and time again that they can play with the best of the best, and they’ll have another chance to prove that on Senior Day this Sunday at 1 p.m. against in-state rival No. 15 Virginia in Blacksburg.

Singles competition

1. #1 Hayley Carter (UNC) def. #49 Francesca Fusinato (VT) 7-6, 6-3

2. Elena Cerezo-Codina (VT) def. #30 Whitney Kay (UNC) 6-3, 6-3

3. #62 Jessie Aney (UNC) def. #125 Caroline Daxhelet (VT) 6-1, 6-3

4. Chloe Ouelett-Pizer (UNC) def. Kelly Williford (VT) 6-7, 6-3, 7-5

5. Raluca Mita (VT) def. Marika Akkerman (UNC) 6-2, 6-4

6. Katherine Butler (VT) def. Cassandra Vazquez (UNC) 3-6, 6-1, 6-3

Doubles competition

1. Hayley Carter/Whitney Kay (UNC) def. #1 Francesca Fusinato/Kelly Williford (VT) 7-5

2. Kate Vialle/Jessie Aney (UNC) def. Caroline Daxhelet/Raluca Mita (VT) 7-6

3. Elena Cerezo-Codina/Sansitha Nandakumar (VT) def. Ashley Dai/Chloe Ouellet-Pizer (UNC) 6-4

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