North Carolina
Miami
UNC Falls to Miami in ACC Quarterfinals, 4-3
April 18, 2008 | Men's Tennis
April 18, 2008
Altamonte Springs, Fla. - On a hot Florida afternoon in the quarterfinal round of the ACC championships, the 25th nationally ranked Miami Hurricanes outlasted the 11th-ranked UNC Tar Heels by the score of 4-3. Carolina was the only team among Friday's top four seeds who had to face a top 25 opponent in the quarterfinals.
Miami seized the early momentum with a service break to take a 4-2 lead at #1 doubles and 5-4 lead at #2 doubles. However, the Tar Heels' Stefan Hardy and Clay Donato, won four straight games to secure an 8-5 victory over the 49th-ranked team of David Rosenfeld and Vivek Subramanian. Donato and Hardy have won nine straight matches and 10 of 11 this spring (lone loss was in a tiebreaker). Miami evened the score with an 8-5 win at the third doubles spot, leaving the team point to be decided by a showdown of top-ten doubles teams at number one. Daniel Vallverdu and Carl Sundberg improved to 21-4 with an 8-5 victory, putting the Hurricanes up 1-0 heading into singles play.
Carolina had rallied to win after losing the doubles point three times against top 25 teams this season (Baylor, VCU, FSU), and looked to be in position to do it again after winning the first two singles contests. Taylor Fogleman tied the match 1-1 with his 21st singles win of the season, dispatching Keith Crowley, 6-1, 6-1. Fogleman has now won 16 of his last 18 matches in straight sets. Hardy, an All-ACC singles selection, then gave North Carolina a momentary lead, cruising to a 6-2, 6-4 win over Subramanian that made the team score 2-1. However, Vallverdu, the nation's third-ranked singles player, answered with a 6-2, 6-2 win at the top spot. Miami's Sundberg quickly followed with a win over Clay Donato at number four singles, 6-3, 6-3.
The weight of the match then hung in the balance as Carrega and Plyler battled out a close match at six singles. Plyler looked primed for the clinching victory, overcoming an early break (2-3) in the second set to win three straight games. Serving for the match at 6-2, 5-3, Plyler began to feel the effects of cramping and dehydration. Carrega meanwhile saved five match points to get the match back on serve 5-5. Battling nausea and serving underhanded due to severe cramping, Plyler lost the second set tiebreak 7-3. With Plyler severly limited and Carrega having turned the momentum, the Hurricanes clinched the match 2-6, 7-6, 6-1.
The Tar Heels await NCAA Tournament bids with a 19-5 record and a 12-5 mark against top-75 teams. Carolina potentially could serve as a host site for the NCAA 1st and 2nd rounds which will be awarded to the nation's top 16 seeds on Tuesday, April 28.
#25 Miami 4, #11 North Carolina 3
Records: Miami 15-6, UNC 19-5
Doubles
#1 Vallverdu/Sundberg [#7] (Miami) d. Fogleman/Kearney [#4] (UNC) 8-5
#2 Hardy/Donato (UNC) d. Rosenfeld/Subramanian [#49] (Miami) 8-5
#3 Crowley/Nieto (Miami) d. David Stone/Tristan Heinrich (UNC) 8-5
Order of finish: 2, 3, 1*
Singles
#1 Daniel Vallverdu [#3] (Miami) d. Benjamin Carlotti (UNC) 6-2, 6-2
#2 Stefan Hardy [#69] (UNC) d. Vivek Subramanian (Miami) 6-2, 6-4
#3 Chris Kearney [#79] (UNC) d. David Rosenfeld 7-5, 7-5
#4 Carl Sundberg (Miami) d. Clay Donato (UNC) 6-3, 6-3
#5 Taylor Fogleman (UNC) d. Keith Crowley (Miami) 6-1, 6-1
#6 Barnabas Carrega (Miami) d. Will Plyler (UNC) 2-6, 7-6(3), 6-1
Order of finish: 5, 2, 1, 4, 3, 6*
Players Mentioned
