Defending champion North Carolina threw everything it had at Cal but the Golden Bears captured its first-ever team National title at the 2016 ITA Women’s National Team Indoor Championships. The tournament came down to No.5 singles with Olivia Hauger outlasting Marika Akkerman, 7-5, 2-6, 7-5.
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| Cal holding the ITA NTI trophy, its first in program history ITA |
(4)#6 California def. (3)#5 North Carolina 4-3
North Carolina’s assistant coach is Courtney Nagle, a former Top 100 doubles player, so it was no surprise to see the Tar Heels take another doubles point. Jessie Aney and Kate Vialle, the #16 duo in the country, were quick to put their troubles from their match against UGA behind them and swept #43 Klara Fabikova/Olivia Hauger, 6-1. Ashley Dai and Chloe Ouellet-Pizer clinched North Carolina’s 4th doubles point with a 6-4 match against Lynn Chi and January freshman Maria Smith. UNC dominated doubles this week going 8-1 (only dropping a 6-0 set at No.2 against UGA).
Cal would need to win 4 singles matches and they started off strong by taking 4 first sets. At No.2, #10 Fabikova continued her ruthless path this week and knocked out #88 Whitney Kay to give the Bears its first point of the match. Hayley Carter, who has shined herself this week, downed Maegan Manasse at #1 in an all-Top 5 battle to give UNC a 2-1 lead. Karla Popovic, who was Cal’s hero against Ohio State in the semifinals, tied things up again at No.6 by defeating Ouellet-Pizer, North Carolina’s clincher in their two previous matches. Lynn Chi gave Cal its first lead of the match at the No.3 line with a tight second set win over Vialle. The No.4 match was next to finish with #68 Aney downing Denise Starr, putting all eyes on the No.5 court. #81 Hauger won a tight first set, before Akkerman was pretty straightforward in set 2. The Tar Heel then broke and took a 5-3 lead and was 2 points from the title before serving for it at 5-4. Hauger broke and held without much resistance, putting the pressure on Akkerman, who had become an error machine. The game went to a deciding point and a wide Akkerman serve was pummled by a forehand down-the-line winner, giving Cal the title.
Return winner by freshman @OliviaHauger and the University of California Golden Bears win the 2016 #ITAIndoors pic.twitter.com/TgPTBfmGG1Jonathan Kelley (@jokelley_tennis) February 8, 2016
You can read more about Cal’s win from Jonathan Kelley of On The Rise, here.
North Carolina vs. California
1. #2 Carter/Kay (UNC) vs. #3 Manasse/Starr (CAL), 5-4, unfinished
1. #2 Carter/Kay (UNC) vs. #3 Manasse/Starr (CAL), 5-4, unfinished
2. #16 Aney/Vialle (UNC) vs. #43 Fabikova/Hauger (CAL), 6-1
3. Dai/Ouellet-Pizer (UNC) def. Chi/Smith (CAL), 6-4
Order of Finish: 2, 3*
Order of Finish: 2, 3*
1. #6 Hayley Carter (UNC, 11.73 UTR) def. #5 Maegan Manasse (CAL, 11.65 UTR), 6-2, 6-2
2. #10 Klara Fabikova (CAL, 11.40 UTR) def. #88 Whitney Kay (UNC, 10.76 UTR), 6-2, 7-5
3. Lynn Chi (CAL, 11.25 UTR) def. Kate Vialle (UNC, 10.54 UTR), 6-3, 7-5
4. #68 Jessie Aney (UNC, 11.20 UTR) def. Denise Starr (CAL, 11.23 UTR), 7-6(7-1), 6-3
5. #81 Olivia Hauger (CAL, 11.01 UTR) def. Marika Akkerman (UNC, 10.81 UTR), 7-5, 2-6, 7-5
6. Karla Popovic (CAL, 10.60 UTR) def. #112 Chloe Ouellet-Pizer (UNC, 10.58 UTR), 6-1, 6-3
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 6, 3, 4, 5*
The ITA will announce their All-Tournament Team this week, but beforehand, I wanted to give my own.
No. 1 doubles: Hayley Carter/Whitney Kay, North Carolina
No. 2 doubles: Silvia Garcia/Caroline Brinson, Georgia
No. 3 doubles: Olivia Sneed/Francesca DiLorenzo, Ohio State
No. 1 singles: Hayley Carter, North Carolina/Francesca DiLorenzo, Ohio State
No. 2 singles: Klara Fabikova, Cal
No. 3 singles: Astra Sharma, Vanderbilt
No. 4 singles: Kennedy Shaffer, Georgia
No. 5 singles: Olivia Hauger, Cal
No. 6 singles: Karla Popovic, Cal
Again, I’d like to thank Jonathan Kelley for the amazing coverage he did in Madison. You can give him a follow at @jokelley_tennis.
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 6, 3, 4, 5*
The ITA will announce their All-Tournament Team this week, but beforehand, I wanted to give my own.
No. 1 doubles: Hayley Carter/Whitney Kay, North Carolina
No. 2 doubles: Silvia Garcia/Caroline Brinson, Georgia
No. 3 doubles: Olivia Sneed/Francesca DiLorenzo, Ohio State
No. 1 singles: Hayley Carter, North Carolina/Francesca DiLorenzo, Ohio State
No. 2 singles: Klara Fabikova, Cal
No. 3 singles: Astra Sharma, Vanderbilt
No. 4 singles: Kennedy Shaffer, Georgia
No. 5 singles: Olivia Hauger, Cal
No. 6 singles: Karla Popovic, Cal
Again, I’d like to thank Jonathan Kelley for the amazing coverage he did in Madison. You can give him a follow at @jokelley_tennis.
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