North Carolina Comeback Delivers Third Straight Women's Team Indoor Title; Ohio State Men Shut Out Two More Top 10 Opponents; Bhakta, Stringer Earn ITF Junior Circuit Titles

North Carolina's 2022 National Indoor Champions
photo courtesy ITA

The prospects for North Carolina's third straight ITA Women's Division I Team Indoor title looked dim after they dropped the doubles point and four first sets in singles to the Cinderellas from the University of Oklahoma Monday at the Nielsen Tennis Center in Madison Wisconsin. 

But the second-seeded Tar Heels, in their eighth consecutive final, stormed back, winning all six second sets in the singles competition, then held off the Sooners' late push to earn a 4-2 victory over the No. 8 seeds.

As the underdog, Oklahoma needed the doubles point, and they got it, with sisters Ivana and Carmen Corley defeating UNC's Fiona Crawley and Elizabeth Scotty 6-3 at line 1 and Layne Sleeth and Alexandra Pisareva beating Cameron Morra and Carson Tanguilig 6-2 at line 2, while also up a break on court 3 when the point was clinched.

The Sooners, who had played until 9 p.m. Sunday in their 4-2 win over Pepperdine, continued to look energetic as singles got underway and they took four first sets, while North Carolina could get just two, from Scotty at line 2 and Crawley at line 4.  

But Oklahoma could not put that second point on the board, with the only matches that did not split going to UNC, with Scotty defeating Carmen Corley 6-2, 6-1 to tie the score at 1 and Crawley beating Anchisa Chanta 6-4, 6-4 to give the Tar Heels a 2-1 lead. 

That score didn't budge for a long time, but then in a 12 minute stretch, Reilly Tran earned the first split for UNC at line 3, followed closely by Anika Yarlagadda at line 6, Morra at line 1 and Tanguilig at line 5.

With that momentum, North Carolina began to pull away, with Tanguilig and Yarlagadda opening up 3-0 and 4-0 leads in their third sets Tran went up 4-2 to improve the outlook for the Tar Heels, while Sleeth began retaking control over Morra. When Ivana Corley won the last four games of the match to beat Tran 6-2, 4-6, 6-4, Oklahoma had their first singles point of the match, but by that time, Yarlagadda was up 5-0 on Emma Staker at line 6 and Tanguilig led Pisareva 4-1 at line 5. 

Tanguilig, a freshman, held her nerve to close out Pisareva and give UNC a 3-2 lead, while Yarlagadda was still trying to hold off Staker, who had clinched Oklahoma's wins over Texas and Pepperdine. Serving for the match a second time, Yarlagadda earned her second straight clinch, beating Staker 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to secure the three-peat.

For more on the final, see this article from the North Carolina website.

Women's Division I Team Indoor Final

February 14, 2022

North Carolina[2] 4, Oklahoma[8] 2

Singles
1. Layne Sleeth (OU) vs. Cameron Morra (UNC) 6-2, 1-6, 1-5, unfinished
2. Elizabeth Scotty (UNC) def. Carmen Corley (OU) 6-2, 6-1
3. Ivana Corely (OU) def. Reilly Tran (UNC) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4
4. Fiona Crawley (UNC) def. Anchisa Chanta (OU) 6-4, 6-4
5. Carson Tanguilig (UNC) def. Alexandra Pisareva (OU) 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
6. Anika Yarlagadda (UNC) def. Emma Staker (OU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3

Order of Finish: 2,4,3,5,6

Doubles
1. Carmen Corley/Ivana Corley (OU) def. Elizabeth Scotty/Fiona Crawley (UNC) 6-3
2. Layne Sleeth/Alexandra Pisareva (OU) def. Cameron Morra/Carson Tanguilig (UNC) 6-2
3. Anchisa Chanta/Emma Staker (OU) vs. Alle Sanford/Reilly Tran (UNC) 5-3, unfinished

Order of Finish
1,2

The ITA Men's Division I Team Indoor Championships begin Friday in Seattle Washington, and unlike the women's event, there is a clear favorite for the title.  Ohio State, who last won the Indoor title in 2019, picked up two more Top 10 wins over the weekend, after defeating No. 1 Tennessee and No. 6 Virginia last weekend. On Friday, the Buckeyes took out No. 10 Kentucky 4-0, and yesterday, they defeated No. 6 Wake Forest 7-0. All four matches were in Columbus, but even with a neutral site, the No. 1 ranked Buckeyes are heavy favorites as they head to the Pacific Northwest.

Last week's ITF Junior Circuit titles for Americans included a sweep for Ria Bhakta at the J4 in Mexico, and Tristan Stringer winning his second consecutive title at the J5 in Kenya.

The 17-year-old Bhakta, seeded No. 1, defeated unseeded Anastasia Kavounov of Canada 6-3, 6-1 in the singles final, her fourth ITF junior singles title and the second this year. In the doubles final Bhakta and Sage Loudon, seeded No. 1, defeated No. 2 seeds Carolina Alonso of Mexico and Valentina Ponce Serrano of Ecuador 6-1, 1-6, 14-12. It's the fifth ITF Junior Circuit doubles title for Bhakta and the sixth for Loudon.

Top seeds Lucas Brown and Jelani Sarr won the boys doubles title in Mexico, defeating No. 2 seeds Paris Pouatcha and Argentina's Lucio Ratti 6-2, 7-6(6) in the final. Brown now has three ITF Junior Circuit doubles titles and Sarr has two.

Sixteen-year-old Tristan Stringer won his second straight ITF singles title in Kenya, adding a J5 title to the J4 title he won the previous week as a qualifier. Seeded No. 8, Stringer defeated No. 10 seed Chris Spyrou of Greece 6-3, 6-4 in the final. Stringer also reached the doubles final. 

Eleven Americans are in the draw at this week's J1 in Porta Alegre Brazil. The boys are Alexander Razeghi, Leanid Boika, Alex Frusina, Kurt Miller, qualifier Nishesh Basavareddy and No. 5 seed Cooper Williams. Frusina and Miller lost their first round matches today, while Boika advanced to the second round. Gonzalo Bueno of Peru is the top seed. 

The US girls in the draw are Ava Krug, Sonya Macavei, Kaitlin Quevedo, Ahmani Guichard and Qavia Lopez[4].  Macavei won her first round match today. The Canadian girls are back on the junior scene after returning from the Australia Open, with Kayla Cross and Victoria Mboko the top two seeds.