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DURHAM — When the day comes that UNC coach Scott Forbes can’t write junior Mac Horvath’s name on his lineup card, that will be a tough reality for the third-year head coach. Forbes’ juniors, including catcher Tomas Frick and others, hold a special place for the coach since they were freshmen during his first season when they all had to deal with the challenges of COVID-19 restrictions.
DURHAM — North Carolina took the first step toward repeating as ACC champion and is a win away from a berth in the ACC tournament semifinals. No. 7-seed UNC jumped out to a big lead early and rolled to an 11–5 victory Tuesday over No. 11 Georgia Tech at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in a push for the title unlikely to include star center fielder Vance Honeycutt.
CHAPEL HILL — The bad news for North Carolina headed into the ACC tournament this week is that star center fielder Vance Honeycutt still is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. The good news is that Honeycutt is ACC defensive player of the year, and all of the Tar Heels have served the suspensions that the NCAA doled out in the wake of the incident in the Gardner-Webb game. UNC (33–21) opens round-robin play Tuesday at 3 p.m. against Georgia Tech (30–24) at Durham Bulls Athletic Park (ACC Network), with junior right-hander Max Carlson (4–2, 6.20) starting.
With Coach Brian Kalbas’ Carolina women’s tennis team winning the NCAA title on Saturday, here is a look at the University of National Champions by the numbers.
When Carolina opens ACC tournament pool play at 3 p.m. Tuesday against No. 11-seed Georgia Tech (30–24) at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, the Tar Heels will likely need four wins and the ACC title to have a chance to be an NCAA tournament regional host. The Tar Heels (33–21) are in Pool B, and also play No. 21-ranked and No. 2-seed Virginia (44–11) at 3 p.m. on Thursday. If UNC wins Tuesday and the Yellow Jackets lose Wednesday to Virginia, that Carolina-Virginia game would be for a berth in the semifinals.
At last, Carolina has broken through to serve the program’s first women’s tennis national championship.
The No. 1-ranked Tar Heels avenged their only loss on Saturday with a 4–1 victory over No. 3 N.C. State at the USTA national campus in Orlando, Fla., in their sixth Final Four appearance. Singles wins by senior Elizabeth Scotty and sophomore Carson Tanguilig within a minute of each other clinched the title.
Carolina will not only avoid being in the same ACC tournament round-robin pool as No. 1 Wake Forest, but the Tar Heels also wouldn’t have to face the Deacons until the championship game. That was the good news for the Tar Heels after they lost their fourth consecutive game, and Clemson finished off a three-game sweep of their regular-season-ending series on Saturday.
Carolina finally pitched well throughout a game against No. 7 Clemson, but the Tar Heels couldn’t deal with versatile Tigers star Caden Grice. Grice, who usually plays first base, beat UNC from the mound and the plate as the Tigers finished off a sweep of the regular-season-ending three-game series with a 3–1 victory Saturday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium for their 12th consecutive victory.
No. 1 North Carolina and No. 3 N.C. State clash in women’s tennis for a third time this season on Saturday in Orlando, Fla., with the national championship on the line. The match at the USTA Tennis Campus is set for 5:30 p.m. and will air on the Tennis Channel. It’s the first time since 2014 that UNC has made the NCAA championship game. Carolina has won the last four ITA indoor titles and gets a chance to finally break through in the NCAA tournament.
Carolina battled a red-hot Clemson team well on Friday night, but lost a heartbreaker in the ninth inning. After the Tar Heels tied it in the top of the ninth, Blake Wright ended the game with an RBI single to right with two outs in the bottom of the inning to give No. 7 Clemson a 5–4 victory Friday for the series win and the Tigers’ 11th consecutive win.
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