University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Florida State
Tar Heels Clinch No. 2 Seed In ACC Tournament On Senior Day
April 17, 2011 | Men's Tennis
April 17, 2011
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The North Carolina men's tennis team won for the 11th time in the last 13 matches and clinched the #2 seed in the upcoming Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Tennis Tournament by defeating Florida State 5-2 Sunday afternoon at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center. The No. 19 Tar Heels improved to 14-6 overall on the season and 9-2 in the ACC while 41st-ranked Florida State fell to 9-13 overall and 4-7 in the ACC.
"I'm proud of our guys for going 9-2 in the league this year," said Sam Paul, UNC head coach. "It was a really good regular season for us, particularly since our league is so tough.
"Florida State has a heck of a team and we know that whoever we play in the ACC Tournament on Friday is going to be a challenging matchup as well."
The match was the final regular-season home match for UNC seniors Stefan Hardy and Kyle Baker. The duo finished 76-22 combined in dual matches during their career with both having red-shirted during the 2008-09 seasons.
Carolina's win clinched the No. 2 seed in the ACC Tournament behind only top-ranked Virginia. The Heels and Duke both finished 9-2 in the league but the Carolina beat Duke 4-3 head-to-head so it earns the higher seed. Carolina will open ACC Tournament play on Friday at 12 noon at the Cary Tennis Center in Cary, N.C. UNC will play either No. 7 Wake Forest or No. 10 Clemson. Those two teams meet in a first-round match Thursday.
Carolina, which at one time stood just 3-4 on the season, capped off an amazing end-of-the-year run with a 3-0 week by beating three ranked teams at home. UNC's nine ACC wins match the school record for record-season league wins in a season. Carolina was 9-1 in 2008 and 9-2 in 2007 as well.
The Tar Heels earned a hard fought doubles point against the Seminoles with wins at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots. Hardy and junior Joey Burkhardt, ranked 59th nationally, beat the 13th-ranked tandem of Vihad Mirzadeh and Conner Smith at the #1 spot 8-4. Jose Hernandez and Zach Hunter followed up with a win at #3 doubles by an 8-6 score over Clint Bowles and Jordan Kelly Houston to deliver the team point to UNC.
Hardy's victory at No. 1 doubles improved his career doubles mark to 91-32. Later in the day the senior would improve his career singles mark to 79-38.
It was Hardy and junior Brennan Boyajian who stretched the Tar Heel lead to 3-0 with straight set singles wins. Boyajian finished off a 3-0 week in singles by beating 108th-ranked Clint Bowles 6-3, 6-2 at the No. 2 spot. Boyajian won the last five games of the second set after trailing 1-2 to improve his ACC record to 8-2. Senior Day honoree Hardy was next off the court as he beat Conner Smith of FSU 7-5, 6-4, clinching the match with a backhard crosscourt passing shot.
FSU rallied to win the next two matches at Mirzadeh beat Hernandez at No. 1 and Jordan Kelly Houston downed Burkhardt at No. 4. But sophomore William Parker continued his clutch play at No. 5 and Cameron Ahari pulled off some magic in a pair of tiebreakers to clinch the overall match.
Parker clinched the match at No. 5 singles as he again won a tough three-set match by a 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 score against Anderson Reed. Parker has been rock steady all year at the five slot, improving to 15-4 overall and 9-2 in the ACC in dual matches.
Ahari then made the final margin 5-2 as he downed Andres Bucaro at No. 6 singles 7-6, 7-6. He won both tiebreakers by 7-5 scores despite trailing 3-0 in the first set breaker and 5-1 in the second set breaker.
No. 19 North Carolina 5, No. 41 Florida State 2
(UNC 14-6, ACC 9-2; Florida State 9-13, ACC 4-7)
Singles:
1. #23 Vihad Mirzadeh (FSU) d. #25 Jose Hernandez (UNC), 6-2, 7-5
2. Brennan Boyajian (UNC) d. #108 Clint Bowles (FSU), 6-3, 6-2
3. Stefan Hardy (UNC) d. Conner Smith (FSU), 7-5, 6-4
4. Jordan Kelly Houston (FSU) d. #90 Joey Burkhardt (UNC), 6-4, 7-6 (7)
5. William Parker (UNC) d. Anderson Reed (FSU), 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
6. Cameron Ahari (UNC) d. Andres Bucaro (FSU), 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5)
Doubles:
1. #59 Joey Burkhardt / Stefan Hardy (UNC) d. #13 Vahid Mirzadeh / Conner Smith (FSU), 8-4
2. Andres Bucaro / Anderson Reed (FSU) d. Brennan Boyajian / Cameron Ahari (UNC), 8-4
3. Jose Hernandez and Zach Hunter (UNC) d. Clint Bowles and Jordan Kelly Houston (FSU), 8-6
Order of Finish:
Singles: 2, 3, 1, 4, 5*, 6
Doubles: 1, 3, 2
2011 ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIP
April 21-24; Cary Tennis Park
Cary, NC.
First round
Thursday April 21
9 a.m - No. 5 Georgia Tech vs. No. 12 Boston College
Noon - No. 7 Wake Forest vs. No. 10 Clemson
3 p.m. - No. 6 Virginia Tech vs. No.11 NC State
Friday April 22
Quarterfinals
9 a.m. - No. 4 Miami vs. Georgia Tech-Boston College winner
Noon - No. 2 North Carolina vs. Wake Forest-Clemson winner
3 p.m. - No. 3 Duke vs. Virginia Tech-NC State winner
Saturday, April 23
1 p.m. - Semifinal
Sunday, April 24
Players Mentioned
