CARY, N.C. – Fiona Crawley is a national champion after capturing the singles title at the ITA All-American Championships on Sunday at Cary Tennis Park.
Crawley completed her journey through one of the top fields in collegiate tennis with a 6-3, 6-2, victory over Kylie Collins of LSU on a Carolina Blue sky morning on stadium court.
Crawley joins Jamie Loeb as the only two players in UNC women’s tennis history to win the ITA All-American singles championship. Loeb won the event as a freshman in 2013 when she won 11 matches over a nine-day stretch in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
No. 21 in the ITA’s preseason rankings, Crawley is 12-0 this fall and is now 89-8 in her collegiate singles career. For context, Loeb was 84-9 in her brilliant two-year Tar Heel career.
The San Antonio, Texas, product only dropped one set in her five matches this week, the opening set of the quarterfinal match with Texas A&M’s Mary Stoiana. She knocked out three players from the Southeastern Conference – No. 2 Sara Hamner of South Carolina in the Round of 16, No. 58 Stoiana and No. 24 Collins in the finals.
Crawley had to face teammate and 28th ranked Carson Tanguilig in the semifinals, and was a 6-3, 6-3, winner on Saturday.
North Carolina had three of the four semifinal competitors in the main draw – Crawley, Tanguilig and Anika Yarlaggada. That is believed to be the most in the event’s history that dates back to 1983.
The ITA Carolinas Regional Championships get underway Thursday and run through Monday, Oct. 17 in Winston-Salem, N.C. Crawley, Tanguilig and Yarlagadda will not compete next week after already solidifying spots in the season-ending ITA National Fall Championships.
ITA Women’s All-American Championships
Main Draw Singles
Wednesday, Oct. 5 – Round of 32
#21 Fiona Crawley (UNC) def. #102 Laia Conde Monfort (Tulsa) 6-1, 6-0
#28 Carson Tanguilig (UNC) def. #65 Snow Han (USC) 6-3, 6-3
#15 Abbey Forbes (UNC) def. [6] #9 Carson Branstine (TAMU) 6-4, 6-2
#18 Natasha Subhash (UVA) def. [8] #12 Elizabeth Scotty (UNC) 6-4, 6-4
Anika Yarlagadda (UNC) def. #52 Emmanuela Antonaki (MSU) 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
Thursday, Oct. 6 – Round of 16
#21 Fiona Crawley (UNC) def. [1] #2 Sarah Hamner (SC) 6-3, 6-4
#28 Carson Tanguilig (UNC) def. [3] #5 Chloe Beck (DU) 3-6, 6-1, 6-0
#15 Abbey Forbes (UNC) def. #23 Abigail Rencheli (NCST) 7-5, 5-7, 6-3
Anika Yarlagadda…
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