Hilton Head’s Hayley Carter to play for NCAA women’s singles title

Hilton Head Island’s Hayley Carter moved within a step of the NCAA women’s singles title Sunday, as the North Carolina junior overcame a sluggish start to win her semifinal in three sets over Miami’s Sinead Lohan at Tulsa, Okla.

Carter, who has held the No.1 collegiate ranking since March, prevailed in a 1-6, 7-5, 6-2 battle that included a one-hour rain delay following the second set. She’ll play for the championship Monday against ACC rival and second seed Danielle Collins of Virginia.

The Smith Stearns Academy product just missed a chance to also reach the doubles final, going to a third-set tiebreak with UNC partner Whitney Kay before getting ousted by California’s Maegan Manasse and Denise Starr.

No sooner had Carter squared her match against Lohan at one set apiece, the skies opened up to halt play. After splitting the first four games upon resumption, Carter reeled off the final four games to punch her ticket to the final.

The result raised Carter’s singles record to 48-4 this season and 129-21 in her three-year career.

Monday’s matchup against Collins will be their fourth of the season. Carter won a regular-season dual on March 4 at Virginia, with the other two matches going unfinished when UNC clinched the ACC title and Virginia returned the favor by ousting the Tar Heels from the NCAA duals in the Round of 16.

A Carter victory Monday would would give the Tar Heels back-to-back singles titles, following Jamie Loeb’s three-set triumph last year over Stanford’s Carol Zhao.

This story was originally published May 29, 2016 at 9:12 PM with the headline "Hilton Head’s Hayley Carter to play for NCAA women’s singles title."