North Carolina
NC State will play UNC for the women’s tennis national title
Oh god, okay, all right, it’s happening people, it’s happening. Remain calm. REMAIN CALM. Both UNC and NC State won their Final Four matches 4-0, defeating Georgia and Stanford, respectively, to advance to the national championship.
This is a little more sports stress than I’m accustomed to in late May and I’m unprepared.
The Wolfpack left no doubt against the Cardinal as Diana Shnaider continued her outstanding play: Shnaider and Alana Smith won their doubles match 6-3 to help the team capture the doubles point, and then Shnaider cruised 6-1, 6-0 in her singles match to add another point to the team total.
Gina Dittmann came through with a 6-3, 7-6 win for point number three, and then Alana Smith sealed it with a 7-5, 7-5 win.
No. 3 @PackWTennis advance to their first NCAA Tournament final in program history, beating 20-time champions [7] Stanford 4-0.
Alana Smith (@lasmitty) wins 7-5 7-5 at #2 to clinch the victory.
All-ACC showdown in the final against No. 1 North Carolina (1-1 H2H this season) pic.twitter.com/45gnV5FbAk
— Parsa (@Parsa_Nemati) May 20, 2023
The national championship appearance is another first for the women’s tennis program, and I don’t know what else there is to say at this point about this team and the job coach Simon Earnshaw has done in Raleigh. No matter what happens tomorrow (title match is at 5:30), it’s been an amazing run.
UNC has been No. 1 all season and will be the favorite. The Tar Heels have just one blemish all year—their ACC tournament title loss to the Pack.