North Carolina
Mississippi
UNC Falls to Ole Miss in Round of 16
May 16, 2008 | Men's Tennis
May 16, 2008
Tulsa, Okla. - The 12th-seeded UNC Tar Heels' trip to the Sweet Sixteen of college tennis came to an early end Friday afternoon, as a 1-0 lead after doubles quickly vanished when the 5th-seeded Ole Miss Rebels outplayed North Carolina in singles en route to a 4-2 victory. Mississippi will advance to face 4th-seeded Georgia (24-3) on Sunday for a berth in the Final Four on Monday.
The Tar Heels jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after doubles, the third doubles point UNC won in as many tries in the NCAA tournament. Seniors Tristan Heinrich and David Stone set the pace with an 8-5 victory over Jakob Klaeson and Tucker Vorster at the third doubles spot, and sophomores Stefan Hardy and Clay Donato clinched the point by beating Bram ten Berge and Matthias Wellerman 8-6. Sandwiched in between was a top-10 doubles team showdown, as Ole Miss' fifth-ranked duo of Jonas Berg and Erling Tveit prevailed 8-4 over North Carolina's sixth-ranked team of Taylor Fogleman and Chris Kearney.
Singles play then began, and Ole Miss wasted no time in winning consecutive matches to put the team score at 3-1. UNC bounced back with an upset win at number four singles, as 95th-ranked Bram ten Berge retired in the third set to give a win to All-ACC singles player Clay Donato. However, a three-set loss by Hardy at the second singles slot closed the match out at a final score of 4-2.
"You have to congratulate Ole Miss," coach Sam Paul remarked. "What a great college tennis match. It was three hours and 40 minutes. This was a great match. Ole Miss just played better in the bigger points. I'm just so proud of my team. There were a lot of tears talking to those guys. We have eight seniors that have given their heart and soul to our program. I'll really miss those guys. It's been so fun to work with them the last four years, and then the rest of our team. I'm proud of the effort we played with today. We came up a little bit short. You have to give Ole Miss credit. They played better on the few bigger points."
Ole Miss coach Billy Chadwick, whose Rebels improved to 24-4, commented, "North Carolina played great and every match was so tight, it was just a great college match." North Carolina finishes the season 21-6, ranked 12th in the nation. This will be the third consecutive year UNC has finished the season ranked among the nation's top 12 teams; over that period of time Carolina has posted an outstanding 70-15 dual match record.
#5 Mississippi 4, #12 North Carolina 2
Records: Mississippi 24-4, UNC 21-6
Doubles
#1 Berg & Tveit [#5] (Miss.) d. Fogleman & Kearney [#6] (UNC) 8-4
#2 Hardy & Donato [#54] (UNC) d. ten Berge & Wellerman [#21] (Miss.) 8-6
#3 David Stone & Tristan Heinrich (UNC) d. Jakob Klaeson & Tucker Vorster (Miss.) 8-5
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2*
Singles
#1 Erling Tveit [#22] (Miss.) d. Benjamin Carlotti (UNC) 6-3, 6-2
#2 Matthias Wellerman [#31] (Miss.) d. Stefan Hardy [#73] (UNC) 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
#3 Robbye Poole [#56] (Miss.) d. Chris Kearney (UNC) 7-5, 6-4
#4 Clay Donato (UNC) d. Jonas Berg [#95] (Miss.) 6-3, 2-6, 3-2, ret.
#5 Kalle Norberg (Miss.) vs. Taylor Fogleman (UNC) 3-6, 6-4, 5-1, sus.
#6 Bram ten Berge (Miss.) d. David Stone (UNC) 7-5, 7-5
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 6, 4, 2*
Players Mentioned
