North Carolina
Maryland
Tar Heel Men's Tennis Team Equals Best Start Since 1965
April 8, 2007 | Men's Tennis
April 8, 2007
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Straight-set victories at five of the singles positions powered No. 5 North Carolina to a 6-1 victory over Maryland in men's tennis action Sunday afternoon at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center. The victory allowed the Tar Heels to start a season 20-0 overall for the first time since the 1965 squad finished with a 20-0 record. UNC also improves to 8-0 in the ACC, its best start since 1996. This is only the fourth team in UNC history to win eight conference matches in a season.
"We played better today than Saturday (when the Tar Heel beat Boston College 5-2)," said UNC head coach Sam Paul. "We competed better today. We were more focused. We have Duke coming in Wednesday and we need to continue to work on better shot selection, developing a better mindset and playing with a better mentality. We can also play better in doubles.
"But being 20-0 at this point in the season, I'm happy for the guys on the team. Our sports medicine people are doing a great job trying to keep us as healthy as possible. We tried to get some rest this weekend for certain players and I think we accomplished that."
The Terps, who fell to 10-8 overall and 2-7 in the conference, took one of the doubles matches from Carolina but freshman Stefan Hardy and senior Sebastian Guejman won at No. 2 doubles 8-4 over Scott Fink and Nicolas Frayssinoux, allowing the Heels to clinch the doubles point for the 20th successive match this year. Guejman and Hardy have clinched the doubles point in five successive matches.
Maryland tied the score 1-1 as for the second successive day UNC senior Sebastian Guejman had to retire from his match because of injury. But on the other five courts UNC persevered for straight set wins. Sophomore Taylor Fogleman made quick work of Aaron Carr 6-2, 6-2 at No. 5 followed by a win at No. 3 by freshman Stefan Hardy as he beat Nickolai Nielson 6-4, 6-1.
The victory was clinched at No. 2 where freshman Chris Kearney, ranked No. 121 nationally, defeated Andrew Orban 7-5, 6-1, winning eight of the final nine games of the match. On the No. 1 court, No. 63 Benjamin Carlotti won the first set at love against Nicolas Frayssinoux. The Maryland senior was serving for the second set at 5-4 but Carlotti broke him and the set went to a tiebreaker where the UNC junior from Paris, France triumphed 7-2.
The final match on the court was at No. 6 where Will Plyler won a tough baseline-oriented battle from Louis-Xavier Lavallee 6-4, 6-3.
Carolina finishes the regular season this week with a home match Wednesday against No. 16 Duke and then road matches at No. 30 Virginia Tech Friday and at No. 3 Virginia Sunday.
Wednesday's match will be worth one point in the annual Carlyle Cup all-sports competition between Duke and North Carolina. The standings are currently tied 8.5 points to 8.5 points so the winner will take over the lead in the Cup race which has been won by UNC each of the past two years and in three of the six years since the Cup's creation in 2000-01. Carolina needs 13.5 points to win the Cup outright and 13 to tie and thus retain the Cup for another year. Points are still to be determined in men's tennis, women's tennis, baseball, men's golf, women's golf, men's track, women's track, women's lacrosse and rowing.
Carolina will be after its first regular-season win over the Blue Devils since April 11, 1996 when the Tar Heels won at Durham 4-3. Carolina did defeat the Blue Devils 4-2 in the quarterfinals of the 2005 ACC Tournament in Cary, N.C., UNC's only win over Duke since 1996. UNC's last win over Duke in Chapel Hill came on April 12, 1995, a 4-3 triumph at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.
At Wednesday's match, free pizza and prizes will be given out and the Carolina Fever pep group will be present to root on the Tar Heels. Match time is 4 p.m.
No. 5 North Carolina 6, Maryland 1
Doubles competition (North Carolina wins two of three matches to clinch team point)
2. Stefan Hardy and Sebastian Guejman (UNC) d. Scott Fink and Nicolas Frayssinoux (MD), 8-4
3. Taylor Fogleman and Chris Kearney (UNC) d. Trey Taylor and Nickolai Nielson (MD), 8-2
Order of Finish: #3, #1, #2
Singles competition
1. #63 Benjamin Carlotti (UNC) d. Nicolas Frayssinoux (MD), 6-0, 7-6 (7-2)
2. #121 Chris Kearney (UNC) d. Andrew Orban (MD), 7-5, 6-1
3. Stefan Hardy (UNC) d. Nickolai Nielson (MD), 6-4, 6-1
4. Scott Fink (MD) d. Sebastian Guejman (UNC), 6-3, 3-0, retired
5. Taylor Fogleman (UNC) d. Aaron Carr (MD), 6-2, 6-2
6. Will Plyler (UNC) d. Louis-Xavier Lavallee (MD), 6-4, 6-3
Order of Finish: #4, #5, #3, #2, #1, #6
RECORDS:
UNC 20-0, ACC 8-0; Maryland 10-8, ACC 2-7
Players Mentioned
