Jones and Scotty Are National Champions
ORLANDO – No. 4 seed Makenna Jones and Elizabeth Scotty finished off their quest for a doubles national championship with a 7-6 (3), 4-6, 1-0 (8) victory over freshmen Kylie Collins and Lulu Sun from the University of Texas.
The duo becomes the second doubles team to win a national championship for Carolina. The team of Jenna Long and Sara Anundsen previously won in 2007.
This most recent championship seemed in doubt early in Friday’s match, as Collins and Sun took an early 3-0 lead in the first set. Thankfully, Jones and Scotty surged back to tie things up at three and eventually took the opening set in a tiebreaker (7-3). Collins and Sun answered back, winning set two 6-4.
Having split the first two sets, the national championship would now be decided by a third set super tiebreaker (first to 10 points, win by two). Things stayed close, with the match coming down to the wire in an 8-8 tie. The Tar Heels, though, were able to eke out each of the next two points to secure the victory.
While the Tar Heels were unable to finish off their run to the national championship in the team tournament, falling to Pepperdine in the national semifinal, Jones and Scotty were able to provide some redemption by capturing the doubles championship.
Not only did Jones and Scotty get redemption from the team tournament, they enacted a measure of revenge for their teammates Sara Daavettila and Cameron Morra. Daavettila and Morra were the second-ranked doubles team in the tournament, but fell in the second round to Collins and Sun.
The championship is the perfect ending to Jones’ career as a Tar Heel. Scotty, however, will be able to return for her junior to help UNC continue to compete at the top of the sport.
It was an incredible year for Carolina’s women’s tennis team. An ITA National Team Indoor Championship. AN NCAA Tournament overall number one seed. An NCAA Team Final Four appearance. An NCAA Singles Championship semifinalist (Sara Daavettila). An NCAA Doubles Champion (Makenna Jones / Elizabeth Scotty).
Road to the championship:
- Round of 32: def. No. 16 Ava Hrastar / Gia Cohen (Georgia Tech) 3-6, 6-3, 14-12
- Round of 16: def. No. 40 Katarina Kozaraov / Julia Adams (Furman) 2-6, 7-6 (2), 11-9
- Quarterfinals: def. No. 17 Sofia Munera / Natasha Subhash (Virginia) 6-3, 6-3
- Semifinals: def. No. 12 Alana Smith / Anna Rogers (NC State) 6-3, 6-4
- Finals: def. No. 19 Kylie Collins / Lulu Sun (Texas) 7-6 (3), 4-6, 10-8
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