SEATTLE, WA. – To mark the conclusion of yet another highly-competitive ITA Division I Women’s National Team Indoor Championship, North Carolina and Georgia squared off in the Championship match to crown the victor of this year’s tournament.
For the second-seeded Tar Heels, their road to the finals wasn’t the easiest as they had to take down Pepperdine (No. 8), Michigan (No. 12), and Texas A&M (No. 3) to reach their ninth straight ITA Indoors Finals.
Likewise, for Georgia, their path to Monday’s Championship Match was one of great challenge as well, beating Stanford (No. 6), Oklahoma (No. 15), and Iowa State (No. 14) en route to their first ITA Indoors Finals since the 2019 season.
In today’s Final, the tide of the match seemed to hang in the balance of the doubles result as both teams each rode waves of momentum from all three courts to leave fans and viewers on the edge of their seats wondering who would take the early lead.
Ultimately, as was the case when these two teams faced off just a few weeks ago, a late surge by the Tar Heels was enough to carry them across the threshold as they would earn victories on courts one and three as they inched one point closer to another National Championship.
Moving to singles play, North Carolina made sure to keep the momentum on their side jumping out to first-set leads on five of the six singles courts.
Anika Yarlagadda on court five was the first to finish for the Tar Heels as she took down Meg Kowalski 6-1, 6-2 to give North Carolina the 2-0 lead with two other courts looking to finish up play just moments after.
The next point for the Tar Heels came from court three as Carson Tanguilig capped off an impressive win over Mel Reasco with a 6-0 second set to move North Carolina just one point away from victory.
Earning the final point for North Carolina was All-American transfer Abby Forbes on court four. After a 6-4 first-set victory over Ania Hertel, Forbes capped off the match with a 6-1 second set in which she sealed with an ace on Championship Point.
With the victory, the Tar Heels have now become the first team in the history of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships to win the event in four consecutive seasons.
This Title also marks their fifth Title in the past five seasons as well as North Carolina’s seventh National Team Indoor Title in the past ten years.
