Carolina women's tennis falls to Texas in NCAA semifinals

No. 1 North Carolina lost 4-2 to No. 4 Texas in the semifinals of the 2022 Division I Women's Tennis Championship on Saturday night from Atkins Tennis Center.

The always critical doubles point was won by Texas (25-4) after capturing courts one and two, while Carolina's duo of Cameron Morra and Reilly Tran led 5-4 on court three. 

The momentum for the defending national champions continued into singles play as the Longhorns led on five of the six courts when the match was suspended for rain. The delay in total was 21 minutes and the Tar Heels used the break to their advantage and fought back to make it a battle all the way to the final point.

No. 55 Crawley rebounded nicely from a rare loss yesterday with a 6-0, 6-4, win over Charlotte Chavatipon on court four. Her Division I leading 43rd singles win of the season made it 1-1.

Anika Yarlagadda continued her outstanding postseason with her fifth win in five NCAA matches to get Carolina to within 3-2.

No. 30 Elizabeth Scotty and No. 51 Carson Tanguilig each pushed their matches into third sets in an attempt to finish off the comeback, but the Longhorns held on to reach the national title match where they will face either Duke or Oklahoma.

Tanguilig's loss was the first on court five all season for the Tar Heels, who entered the match 25-0 at line five with 14 of those wins coming from Tanguilig.

Carolina wraps up another outstanding season with a 28-3 overall record, a third-straight ITA National Team Indoor Championship title and a regular season ACC crown.

Crawley, Morra, Scotty, Tanguilig and Reilly Tran, and the No. 2 ranked doubles team of Crawley and Scotty will compete at the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships beginning on Monday.

Singles Results
1. #2 Peyton Stearns (UT) def. #5 Cameron Morra (UNC) vs. 6-2, 7-6 (9)
2. #30 Elizabeth Scotty (UNC) vs. #49 Kylie Collins (UT) 3-6, 7-5, 3-5, unfinished
3. #93 Sabina Zeynalova (UT) def. #35 Reilly Tran (UNC) 6-3, 6-3
4. #55 Fiona Crawley (UNC) def. Charlotte Chavatipon (UT) 6-0, 6-4
5. Allura Zamarripa (UT) der. #51 Carson Tanguilig (UNC) 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-5
6. Anika Yarlagadda (UNC) def. Vivian Ovrootsky (UT) 7-6 (4), 6-4

Order of Finish: 4, 3, 1, 6, 5

Doubles Results
1. #11 Stearns/Zamarripa (UT) def. #2 Crawley/Scotty (UNC) 6-3
2. #67 Chavatipon/Collins (UT) def. Alle Sanford/Tanguilig (UNC) 6-1
3. Morra/Tran (UNC) vs. Zeynalova/Bella Zamarripa (UT) 5-4, unfinished