University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Nebraska
Tar Heels Advance To NCAA Round of 32 With 4-1 Win
May 14, 2010 | Men's Tennis
May 14, 2010
DURHAM - The North Carolina Tar Heels won their first round NCAA Tournament match against Nebraska 4-1 Friday morning to advance to the round of 32.
The 19th-ranked Tar Heels will face No. 16 Duke Saturday afternoon, and the winner will travel to Athens, Ga. for the 16-team NCAA Championships.
"I want to congratulate Nebraska, they have a tough team," said head coach Sam Paul. "It was a battle."
UNC jumped out to an early lead after clinching the team point in doubles. Both Tar Heel doubles pairs ( Clay Donato & Stefan Hardy, Andrew Crone & Jose Hernandez ) won by a score of 8-3.
Donato won his first set against 82nd-ranked Christopher Aumueller 6-2, and after three games in the second set Aumueller retired to give North Carolina a 2-0 lead. The 41st-ranked Cornhuskers fought back with a win by Benedikt Lindheim at the fifth singles spot to make the score 2-1, but that would ultimately be Nebraska's only point.
Brennan Boyajian was the next to finish, closing out a 6-3, 7-5 win versus Francois Van Impe that put the Tar Heels a point away from advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Andrew Crone followed with a 6-3, 7-5 victory of his own at the sixth singles spot to clinch for UNC.
"I'm proud of our guys today, we knew it was going to be a fight," said Paul. "I'm looking forward to tomorrow."
North Carolina faces Duke on Saturday at 1 p.m. at the Blue Devils' Ambler Tennis Center.
#19 North Carolina 4, #41 Nebraska 1
Records: UNC 18-6, Nebraska 13-13
Doubles
1: #19 Clay Donato and Stefan Hardy (UNC) d. David Bendheim and Calin Paar (NEB) 8-3
2: Brennan Boyajian and Cameron Ahari (UNC) vs. Christopher Aumueller and Francois Van Impe (NEB) 7-6 DNF
3: Andrew Crone and Jose Hernandez (UNC) d. Benedikt Lindheim and Andre Stenger (NEB) 8-3
Singles
1: #43 Clay Donato (UNC) d. #82 Christopher Aumueller (NEB) 6-2, 2-1, ret.
2: #44 Jose Hernandez (UNC) vs. #69 Calin Paar (NEB) 6-3, 5-5 DNF
3: #100 Stefan Hardy (UNC) d. David Bendheim (NEB) 4-6, 6-4, 2-1 DNF
4: #90 Brennan Boyajian (UNC) d. Francois Van Impe (NEB) 6-3, 7-5
5: Benedikt Lindheim (NEB) d. #88 Cameron Ahari (UNC) 6-1, 6-3
6: Andrew Crone (UNC) d. Andre Stenger (NEB) 6-3, 7-5
Order of finish
Doubles: 1, 3
Singles: 1, 5, 4, 6
Players Mentioned
