#9 Clemson Edged, 4-3, by #2 North Carolina

April 10, 2010

Watch Clemson vs. North Carolina on TigerCast:Singles: #1 | #2 | #3Doubles: #1 | #2 | #3

CLEMSON, SC – #9 Clemson battled #2 North Carolina for more than four hours, but was unable to come up with the victory, falling 4-3 to the Tar Heels (21-3, 8-0 ACC). The loss snapped Clemson’s (18-4, 6-2 ACC) seven-match win streak, and the Tigers fell to 10-1 at home on the season.

North Carolina won the doubles point, and the teams split the singles matches.

In doubles, the freshman group of Caroline Magnusson fell for the first time in five match, 8-3, at the hands of Katrina Tsang and Gina Suarez-Malaguti.

At flight one, the ninth-ranked duo of Ina Hadziselimovic and Josipa Bek took down #11 Sanaz Marand and Sophie Grabinski at flight one doubles to even the doubles matches. For Hadziselimovic, it was her 98^th career doubles victory, putting her to within two of the school record. The UNC duo had defeated the same Tiger duo twice during the fall season, but the Tigers group got the dual match win.

That brought he doubles point down to flight two. Shinnan Featherston and Jocelyn Ffriend took a 5-2 lead in the match, before Laurianne Henry knotted the match at five apiece. North Carolina took a big 6-5 lead, and won two of the final three games for the 8-6 win and the doubles point. It was the first time in seven matches Clemson failed to win the doubles point.

North Carolina took a 2-0 lead as Featherston took down Estefania Balda, 6-0, 6-0 at flight six.

The Tigers evened up the match, with #102 Ina Hadziselimovic winning 6-4, 6-4 over #118 Sophie Grabinski and Henry posting a 6-3, 7-6 win over Zoe De Bruycker at flight five.

Flight two pitted #53 Keri Wong and #51 Katrina Tsang against one another. Wong took the first set, 6-2 and jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the second set, However, Tsang responded to win 12 of the next 15 sets, posting a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 win over Wong, who had won six straight matches.

With the score 3-2 North Carolina, flights one and four continued to battle. #76 Nelly Ciolkowski had her hands full with Gina Suarez-Malaguti. Suarez took the first set in a tiebreaker, before Ciolkowski answered back with a 6-3 win in the second set.

Meanwhile, #24 Josipa Bek and #32 Sanaz Marand were in a similar match. Marand took the first set form Bek in a tiebreak, before Bek responded with the second-set 6-4 victory to pull the match even.

However, over on court four, Suarez-Malaguti was able to close out Ciolkowski for the clinching point, 6-1, while Bek and Marand were in the fifth game of their third set. Ciolkowski falls to 25-5 on the year, and had her seven-match winning streak snapped.

With the match already decided, Bek fought off a 2-1 deficit to take a 6-3 match win over Marand, and extending her personal win streak to five matches.

The Tigers will play on Sunday at noon as #7 Duke comes to town. Admission is free and Clemson will honor seniors Ina Hadziselimovic and Estefania Balda before the match.

#2 North Carolina 4, #9 Clemson 3

April 10, 2010 – Clemson, SC

Doubles:

1. #9 Bek/Hadziselimovic (CU) d. #11 Marand/Grabinski (UNC), 8-2

2. Featherston/Ffriend (UNC) d. Henry/Wong (CU), 8-6

3. Tsang/Suarez-Malaguti (UNC ) d. Ciolkowski/Magnusson (CU), 8-3

Order of Finish: 3,1,2

Singles:

1. #24 Josipa Bek (CU) d. #32 Sanaz Marand (UNC), 6-7(8), 6-4, 6-3

2. #51 Katrina Tsang (UNC) d. #53 Keri Wong (CU), 2-6, 6-4, 6-2

3. #102 Ina Hadziselimovic (CU) d. #118 Sophie Grabinski (UNC), 6-4, 6-4

4. Gina Suarez-Malaguti (UNC) d. #76 Nelly Ciolkowski (CU), 7-6(), 3-6, 6-1