North Carolina
Miami
Tar Heels' Comeback Falls Short
March 20, 2009 | Men's Tennis
March 20, 2009
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The 34th-ranked UNC Tar Heels lost a close match to No. 45 Miami on Friday afternoon, barely falling short after mounting a furious comeback in the final matches played.
Carolina fell behind 3-0, but charged back with three consecutive singles wins to tie the match. Miami's David Rosenfeld barely edged UNC's Andrew Crone in a three-set match to clinch the victory.
The Hurricanes took an early lead after winning two of the three doubles matches played. Carolina's 34th-ranked Clay Donato and Taylor Fogleman won at No. 1 doubles to avoid a sweep, but Miami's Keith Crowley and Carl Sundberg won a tightly contested tiebreaker at the second doubles spot to secure a 1-0 team lead.
Miami kept the ball rolling in singles, as 90th-ranked Carl Sundberg and 29th-ranked Daniel Vallverdu notched back-to-back wins to put the Hurricanes one victory away from clinching. Fogleman quickly answered with a 7-5, 6-3 win over 117th-ranked Christian Blocker to edge the Tar Heels back to a two-point deficit, and Zach Hunter's straight-sets victory narrowed Miami's lead to one.
Brennan Boyajian then pulled off one of the most improbable wins of Carolina's season. With a one-set lead, Boyajian began to suffer severe cramps in his left leg, eventually limiting him to underhanded serves and extremely poor mobility on the court. The freshman from Weston, Fla. kept playing through the pain, though, and what seemed to be an easy victory for Miami's David Simon turned into a challenge. With the second set score at 5-5, Boyajian managed to squeeze two more wins out, clinching his match to even the team score at 3-3.
The last match remaining was a deadlock between Crone and Rosenfeld. After splitting the first two sets, Rosenfeld gained a slight edge in the third set and never looked back. His 6-2 win in the last set completed Miami's circuitous route to a 4-3 victory.
North Carolina will face another stiff challenge this weekend on Sunday, March 22. The Tar Heels play the No. 14 Florida State Seminoles at 12:30 p.m. at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.
#45 Miami 4, #34 UNC 3
Records: UNC 11-4 (0-2), Miami 7-6 (3-1)
Doubles
1: Clay Donato and Taylor Fogleman [#34] (UNC) d. David Rosenfeld and Daniel Vallverdu (Miami) 8-5
2: Keith Crowley and Carl Sundberg (Miami) d. Andrew Crone and Alex Rafiee (UNC) 9-8(5)
3: Christian Blocker and David Simon (Miami) d. Brennan Boyajian and Zach Hunter (UNC) 8-2
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles
1: Daniel Vallverdu [#29] (Miami) d. Clay Donato [#36] (UNC) 6-4, 6-4
2: Taylor Fogleman [#54] (UNC) d. Christian Blocker [#117] (Miami) 7-5, 6-3
3: David Rosenfeld (Miami) d. Andrew Crone (UNC) 7-6, 2-6, 6-2
4: Brennan Boyajian (UNC) vs. David Simon (Miami) 7-6, 7-5
5: Carl Sundberg [#90] (Miami) d. Luke Mojica (UNC) 6-0, 6-1
6: Zach Hunter (UNC) d. Ignacio Taboada (Miami) 6-4, 7-5
Order of finish: 5, 1, 2, 6, 4, 3
Players Mentioned
