After a two-game win streak, the Jackets returned home on Friday, March 30 to face the No. 8 North Carolina Tar Heels before facing the No. 3 Duke Blue Devils two days later. The Jackets could not keep up with the two top-10 foes, losing 4-3 to North Carolina, before being swept 7-0 by the Blue Devils. The two losses dropped the Jackets to 3-4 in the ACC and 9-9 for the season.
The Jackets started off slowly Saturday against the Tar Heels, dropping the doubles point to give North Carolina an early 1-0 lead.
Senior Viet Ha Ngo and Sophomore Muriel Wacker dropped their doubles match to start the day, losing 8-3, while shortly after senior Lynn Blau and junior Elizabeth Kilborn dropped a more contested 8-5 match.
Senior Jillian O’Neill and sophomore Alex Anghelescu’s match at the top court went unfinished due to North Carolina already earning the doubles point from victories in the first two matches.
O’Neill, then helped the Jackets rebound from the losses, dismantling her opponent Zoe DeBruycker in a 6-2, 6-3 win to tie the team match at 1-1. The Tar Heels responded though, with two wins over Ngo and senior Carolina Lilley to take a 3-1 lead.
Then, at the No. 5 spot, freshman Jasmine Minor responded after dropping the first set to win a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 match and keep the Jackets in contention.
North Carolina would take the team match immediately afterwards though, with Kilborn losing 7-5, 2-6, 6-1 to give the Tar Heels the match clinching point and eventually win 4-3 over the Jackets.
The Jackets then faced an even more daunting task against the No. 3 Blue Devils two days later. The Jackets could not put anything together and were eventually swept, 7-0.
The only bright spot for the Jackets on the day came in doubles play when Blau and Kilborn earned the Jackets’ only victory of the day with a 9-7 win over Beatrice Capra and Rachel Kahan. However, the match did not matter in the scope of things, as Duke had already earned the doubles point.
In singles play, much like doubles play, only the final match was competitive, with Duke’s Mary Clayton overtaking Anghelescu 4-6, 7-5, 1-0. O’Neill’s match against was the only other to go to a third set, but was bageled in each set she lost, eventually losing 6-0, 2-6, 6-0.
The Jackets will look to bounce back from the consecutive losses when they head to Virginia to take on both the Virginia Cavaliers and the Virginia Tech Hokies on April 5 and 6, respectively.