North Carolina
Virginia Tech
No. 6 Tar Heels Advance To Semifinals In ACC Tournament
April 20, 2007 | Men's Tennis
April 20, 2007
CARY, N.C. - Two doubles wins and three singles wins propelled the No. 6 North Carolina men's tennis team to a 4-2 quarterfinals victory over No. 40 Virginia Tech Friday afternoon at the Cary Tennis Center in the 2007 ACC Men's Tennis Championship. Junior Benjamin Carlotti, a native of Paris, France, clinched the match for the second time over the Hokies in the past seven days. In regular season action at Blacksburg, Va., on April 13, Carlotti defeated Albert Larregola in three sets to take the match; this time around, the Tar Heel veteran ousted Arvid Puranen in straight sets. Freshman Stefan Hardy earned his 20th career win in both doubles and singles this afternoon with victories in both.
The Tar Heels, the second seed in the ACC Tournament, received a bye in first round action, while the Hokies upset No. 7 seed NC State yesterday, 4-3, to advance to the quarters. Tech was the 10th seed in the tournament. In tomorrow's semifinals at 1 p.m., the Tar Heels will face Florida State which defeated third-seeded Duke in the final quarterfinal match of the day Friday.
North Carolina dominated the doubles courts against the Hokies, easily clinching the point in 37 minutes of action with victories from the two and three positions. The duo of senior Sebastian Guejman and Hardy bageled Albert Larregola and Yoann Re, 8-0. Hardy earned his 20th career doubles win with the victory. Clinching the doubles point for Carolina at the three seed were freshman Chris Kearney and sophomore Taylor Fogleman. The Tar Heel duo ousted the Hokies' Brandon Corace and Arvid Puranen, 8-2. Virginia Tech's Pedro Garber and Nicolas Delgado were even with Carolina's Lenny Gullan and David Stone, 5-5, before the match was suspended at the one position. Carolina has won the doubles point 22 out of 24 times this season. The Tar Heels improved to 22-2 on the season and are 22-0 when they win the doubles point and 0-2 when they do not.
Although North Carolina gained a 1-0 lead with the doubles point, singles competition remained close through all six first sets. The one, two and three seeds all went into first set tiebreakers, with Carolina dropping only one of the three. Hardy, playing at the three seed, won his first set tiebreaker, 12-10, over Delgado in a marathon tiebreak. His second set victory, 6-2, gave the Tar Heels a 2-0 lead in the match. Hardy's career record improved to 20-5 with the victory. Carolina's lone senior, Guejman, pushed Carolina to a 3-0 lead with a 6-3, 6-4 decision at the five seed over Garber.
The Hokies quickly bounced back to within one team point after winning at the four and six seeds. Fogleman fell in three sets to Re, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2, at the four seed; while Plyler was poised to take the second set, but fell to Corace in straight-sets, 6-3, 7-6 (2).
With the score standing at 3-2, all eyes looked to the one and two seeds for a clinching win by the Tar Heels. No. 64-ranked Carlotti took the reigns at the one seed after winning the first set tiebreak over No. 70 Puranen 7-3. The second set went to four-all before Carlotti jumped ahead and never relinquished the lead, earning the next two games and clinching the match, 4-2, for the Tar Heels. Carlotti broke Puranen's serve to take the ninth game and served out the match in the 10th game without dropping a point.
The Tar Heels' advancement to the semifinals marks the third time in the past four years Carolina has done so. The Tar Heels will face Florida State tomorrow in the semifinals. In regular season action Carolina defeated Florida State, 4-3, in Chapel Hill. The Seminoles knocked UNC out of the ACC Tournament in both 2005 and 2006 in the semifinal and quarterfinal rounds, respectively.
Semifinals action tomorrow will begin at 10 a.m. with the first match between Virginia and Wake Forest. Carolina's match with FSU will begin at 1 p.m.
No. 6 North Carolina 4, No. 40 Virginia Tech 2
Doubles:
1. Lenny Gullan/David Stone (UNC) v. Pedro Garber/Nicolas Delgado (VT) 5-5, DNF
2. Sebastian Guejman/Stefan Hardy (UNC) d. Albert Larregola/Yoann Re (VT) 8-0
3. Chris Kearney/Taylor Fogleman (UNC) d. Brandon Corace/Arvid Puranen (VT) 8-2
Order of finish: 2, 3
Singles:
1. No. 46 Benjamin Carlotti (UNC) d. No. 70 Arvid Puranen (VT) 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 *
2. Chris Kearney (UNC) trailed Albert Larregola (VT) 6-7 (1-7), 5-6 DNF
3. Stefan Hardy (UNC) d. Nicolas Delgado (VT) 7-6 (12-10), 6-2
4. Yoann Re (VT) d. Taylor Fogleman (UNC) 6-1, 3-6, 6-2
5. Sebastian Guejman (UNC) d. Pedro Garber (VT) 6-3, 6-4
6. Brandon Corace (VT) d. Will Plyler (UNC) 6-3, 7-6 (7-2)
Order of finish: 3, 5, 4, 6, 1
*Clinched the match
Records:North Carolina 22-2, Virginia Tech 13-12
Players Mentioned
