North Carolina
Virginia Tech
Tar Heels Earn 4-3 Decision Over Virginia Tech
March 23, 2012 | Men's Tennis
March 23, 2012
Coach Paul Talks About The Win (mp3) | Boyajian Talks About His Clinching Singles Win (mp3)
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - The No. 20 North Carolina men's tennis team put on an entertaining show Friday afternoon at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center as it defeated the Virginia Tech Hokies by a razor thin 4-3 to remain unbeaten in ACC dual matches this season.
The Tar Heels dropped the doubles point before winning four of the six singles matches to gain the 4-3 victory over the Hokies and improve to 7-4 on the season and a perfect 4-0 in ACC play. Senior Brennan Boyajian clinched the win for Carolina at the #2 singles spot.
This marked the fourth straight year the Carolina-Virginia Tech match has been decided by a 4-3 margin in the Tar Heels' favor. Since Virginia Tech joined the league in 2005, Carolina has won six of the eight regular-season matches 4-3 (2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012) and the other two by a 5-2 scores (2005, 2008).
The doubles point was hotly contested, as the two schools split the opening two matches. Carolina's 63rd-ranked duo of Joey Burkhardt and Jose Hernandez gave the Tar Heels a brief advantage in the race for the match's first point with an 8-4 win over Patrick Daciek and Lucas Oliveira on court two. However, Virginia Tech's Luka Somen and Corrado Degl' Incerti Tocci, ranked 47th nationally, quickly countered with their 8-2 victory over Boyajian and Oystein Steiro (rated 44th in the nation) on court one.
That left the victors of court three to claim the doubles point, and Virginia Tech was up to the task. Hunter Koontz and Trpimir Kujundzic bested Cameron Ahari and Esben Hess-Olesen 8-5 to take the match and the opening point of the afternoon.
"We have to make some adjustments in doubles," said Carolina Head Coach Sam Paul. "We worked on doubles this week, and then we just did not play well. That was disappointing, but I'm proud of my team. We came out and got five first sets (in singles) and we knew they were going to give us everything they had."
The quick start in singles began with Burkhardt, as he wasted no time in evening the overall score. The senior from St. Augustine, Fla. rolled to a 6-3, 6-1 victory on court four, besting Mauricio Antun from Virginia Tech.
Minutes later, the Hokies had an answer. Kujundzic worked his way to a hard fought 6-3, 6-3 win over Steiro on court six to give Virginia Tech the 2-1 lead.
Once again the Tar Heels responded, this time in the form of a 6-1, 7-5, win by William Parker over Corrado Degl' Incerti Tocci on court five to even the score.
With the back three courts finished and the score tied, positions one through three were left to decide the match, and they did so in entertaining fashion. In a battle of ranked opponents on court one, No. 34 Jose Hernandez bested No. 84 Luka Somen of Virginia Tech to give the Tar Heels their first lead of the day with a 6-4, 7-6 win, capturing the second set tie-break by a score of 7-4.
The lead, like all leads throughout the day, was short-lived. Tech's Daciek rallied after losing the first set to beat 98th-ranked Esben Hess-Olesen 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 to knot the score once again.
That left Brennan Boyajian alone on court two to secure the victory for the Tar Heels, and the senior came through in the clutch. After winning the first set 7-6, including winning the tiebreaker at love, Boyajian claimed the second 6-3 over Lucas Oliveira to give Carolina the 4-3 win.
"Brennan's been there a lot. He's clinched a lot of 4-3 matches for us," Paul said. "I'm feeling pretty good about that guy being on the court in that situation. He's one of our most reliable spots in the lineup all year."
The Tar Heels are next in action Sunday, March 25th, against the third-ranked Virginia Cavaliers. The match begins at 1:00 p.m. at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center. Virginia defeated Duke 4-3 on Friday. The Cavaliers have won 82 successive matches against ACC opponents and have not lost an ACC regular season dual match since falling to Carolina 4-3 on April 14, 2006 at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.
No. 20 North Carolina 4, No. 68 Virginia Tech 3
Doubles
1. #47 Somen/Tocci (VT) def. #44 Boyajian/Steiro (UNC), 8-2
2. #63 Burkhardt/Hernandez (UNC) def. Daciek/Oliveira (VT), 8-4
3. Koontz/Kujundzic (VT) def. Ahari/Hess-Olesen (UNC), 8-5
Order of finish: 2, 1, 3
Singles
1. #34 Jose Hernandez (UNC) def. #84 Luka Somen (VT), 6-4, 7-6 (4)
2. #90 Brennan Boyajian (UNC) def. #89 Lucas Oliveira (VT) 7-6 (0), 6-3
3. #98 Esben Hess-Olesen (UNC) def. Patrick Daciek (VT), 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
4. Joey Burkhardt (UNC) def. Mauricio Antun (VT), 6-3, 6-1
5. William Parker (UNC) def. Corrado Degl' Incerti Tocci (VT), 6-1, 7-5
6. Trpimir Kujundzic (VT) def Oystein Steiro (UNC), 6-3, 6-3
Order of finish: 4, 6, 5, 1, 3,2
Records: UNC 7-4, ACC 4-0; Virginia Tech 6-7, ACC 2-2
Players Mentioned
