University of North Carolina Athletics
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Rice
Guejman Combines With Tar Heel Freshmen To Lift Tar Heels Past Rice
February 9, 2007 | Men's Tennis
Feb. 9, 2007
HOUSTON, TEXAS - Senior Sebastian Guejman clinched the match with a three-set win at No. 4 singles as the No. 22 North Carolina men's tennis team defeated No. 30 Rice 4-2 Friday afternoon at the Met Club in downtown Houston. Guejman joined freshmen Stefan Hardy and Chris Kearney as winners in both singles and doubles as Carolina remained undefeated at 5-0.
Carolina handed the Owls their first loss of the season after Rice opened the season with five straight wins. No team had scored more than a single point against Rice in its first five matches.
Coach Sam Paul's team gained the upper hand in the doubles point, led by a tremendous comeback win by Kearney and sophomore Taylor Fogleman at No. 3 doubles. The teams split the No. 1 and No. 2 matches, both decided by 8-6 scores. UNC trailed the Owls 7-4 at No. 3 but Kearney and Fogleman then ran off wins in five straight games to win 9-7 and put the Heels up 1-0 in the match.
Carolina continued its good play in singles as freshmen Stefan Hardy and Chris Kearney were the next two players off the court, both winning in straight sets. Hardy improved to 6-1 on the season in singles by beating Filip Paroci 6-3, 6-4 at No. 2. Kearney then gave the Tar Heels a 3-0 lead with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Ralph Knupfer at No. 3. The win improved Kearney to 11-2 this season in singles play.
The match became 3-1 as Christoph Muller of the Owls whipped UNC's Will Plyler 6-2, 6-0 at No. 5. The match's final three flights all went to three sets with Rice needing to win all three to claim the match.
In a tight match at No. 1, Rice's 50th-ranked Ben Harknett outlasted No. 25 Benjamin Carlotti of UNC 7-6 (2), 2-6, 6-4.
After Rice cut the lead to 3-2, the other two matches were also in the third sets and the Heels and Owls had split sets at both flights. Both Guejman at No. 4 and Fogleman at No. 6 won their first sets but dropped the second sets.
Guejman showed his senior leadership by clinching the match for Carolina by besting Tobias Scheil 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. The final match, in which Fogleman led 4-3 in the third set, was called when the team result was clinched.
UNC will play at the Met Club again Saturday against Vanderbilt (3-2) at 1 p.m. The Commodores are ranked No. 66 in this week's Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll.
Results
No. 22 North Carolina 4, No. 30 Rice 2
Doubles
1) Ralph Knupfer/Tobias Scheil (RU) def. Lenny Gullan/David Stone (UNC), 8-6
2) Sebastian Guejman/Stefan Hardy (UNC) def. Jason Mok/Christoph Müller (RU), 8-6
3) Chris Kearney/Taylor Fogleman (UNC) def. Ben Harknett/Filip Zivojinovic (RU), 9-7
Singles
1) No. 50 Ben Harknett (RU) def. No. 25 Benjamin Carlotti (UNC), 7-6, 2-6, 6-4
2) Stefan Hardy (UNC) def. Filip Paroci (RU), 6-3, 6-4
3) Chris Kearney (UNC) def. Ralph Knupfer (RU), 6-4, 6-2
4) Sebastian Guejman (UNC) def. Tobias Scheil (RU), 6-4, 5-7, 6-4*
5) Christoph Müller (RU) def. Will Plyler (UNC), 6-2, 6-0
6) Taylor Fogleman (UNC) led. Jason Mok (RU), 6-4, 6-7, 4-3 (DNF)
Order of Finish: #2, #3, #5, #1, #4, DNF
*Clinched match victory for UNC
Records: North Carolina 5-0, Rice 5-1
Players Mentioned
