Saturday, January 26
Chapel Hill
6:30 PM
North Carolina
4
vs
1
Duke
Sophomore Benjamin Sigouin and the Tar Heels rebounded from a disappointing doubles loss to beat Duke.
Tar Heels Bounce Back To Top Duke
January 26, 2019 | Men's Tennis
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The sixth-ranked North Carolina men's tennis team dropped the doubles point but stormed back for a 4-1 victory over No. 30 Duke Saturday night in ITA Kick-Off Weekend action at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center. With the win, UNC improved to 4-0 and earned a spot in the 16-team ITA National Team Indoor Championships Feb. 15-18 in Chicago.
"Credit to Duke – they played great doubles tonight," UNC coach Sam Paul said. "For our guys to come out and bounce back, I'm really proud of my team. We're happy to be moving on."
Carolina-Duke was the fourth match played at UNC's facility on Saturday. Two women's matches opened the day (including a victory by the Tar Heel women, who play Princeton Sunday at 1 for their own ITA ticket) and the consolation matchup between Utah and Middle Tennessee opened the men's action, but UNC-Duke was the evening's main event.
By the time the match started at 6:45, crowd of more than 500 had packed the bleachers and expanded to fill every inch of standing room that afforded a view of the courts. "What a great crowd," Paul said. "I want to thank the Carolina tennis fans and students for coming out to support our program. I think it's one of the biggest crowds we've ever had."
The first doubles result came on Court 3, where junior Simon Soendergaard – whose father, John, was in the stands for the first time in his son's UNC career – and sophomore Mac Kiger teamed for a 6-3 win. Duke then earned a win by the same score on Court 1, putting all eyes on Court 2. Sophomore Benjamin Sigouin and freshman Brian Cernoch waged an epic battle with Duke's Jason Lapidus and Sean Sculley, going into a back-and-forth tiebreaker that the Blue Devils ultimately won 12-10.
It was the first time UNC had dropped a point this season and the first time the Tar Heels had lost the doubles point to Duke since the 2015 ACC Tournament.
"I'm not going to lie – I was really disappointed," Sigouin said. "I'm not going to say I blew it but I definitely had my chances. I sat on the bench there for like a couple of minutes and just knew I had to let it go and regroup. I started kind of slow in singles but I did my best."
And in the end that was plenty. UNC won first sets on all six courts, and Soendergaard was the first to wrap up a win, 6-2, 6-1 on Court 5. Cernoch then won 6-3, 6-1 against Sculley on No. 3. Kiger won 7-5, 6-3 on No. 6, leaving it to Sigouin to clinch on Court 2. His 6-4, 6-2 win marked the third time in this year's four matches that he has been the one to seal the Carolina victory.
UNC now has a ticket to Chicago and a spot in the prestigious field for the fifth year in a row, but can't afford to look ahead that far yet. Between now and then, the Tar Heels will play two challenging road matches: at No. 8 Texas on Feb. 2 and at No. 15 Illinois on Feb. 9.
"We consider ourselves one of the best teams in the country and we feel like that's an event we need to be at, but just getting to Chicago is not enough for us," said Blumberg, who celebrated a birthday on Saturday in addition to the big win. "We have a long way to go, a couple of tough weeks, but we're going to put in a lot of work and hopefully get a good result."
No. 6 North Carolina 4, No. 30 Duke 1
Doubles
Order of match finish: (3,1,2)
1. Stachowak/Furman (DU) d. Blumberg/Boyden (UNC), 6-3
2. Lapicus/Sculley d. Cernoch/Sigouin (UNC) 7-6 (12-10)
3. Soendergaard/Kiger (UNC) d. Mateas/Lin (DU), 6-3
Singles
Order of match finish: (5,3,6,2 )
1. William Blumberg (UNC) v. Nick Stachowak (DU), 6-4, 4-3, UF
2. Benjamin Sigouin (UNC) d. Spencer Furman (DU), 6-4, 6-2
3. Brian Cernoch (UNC) d. Sean Sculley (DU), 6-3, 6-1
4. Blaine Boyden (UNC) v. Catalin Mateas (DU), 7-6 (8-6), 1-1 UF
5. Simon Soendergaard (UNC) d. Jason Lapidus (DU), 6-2, 6-1
6. Mac Kiger (UNC) d. Vincent Lin (DU), 7-5, 6-3
Records: UNC 4-0, Duke 3-2
"Credit to Duke – they played great doubles tonight," UNC coach Sam Paul said. "For our guys to come out and bounce back, I'm really proud of my team. We're happy to be moving on."
Carolina-Duke was the fourth match played at UNC's facility on Saturday. Two women's matches opened the day (including a victory by the Tar Heel women, who play Princeton Sunday at 1 for their own ITA ticket) and the consolation matchup between Utah and Middle Tennessee opened the men's action, but UNC-Duke was the evening's main event.
By the time the match started at 6:45, crowd of more than 500 had packed the bleachers and expanded to fill every inch of standing room that afforded a view of the courts. "What a great crowd," Paul said. "I want to thank the Carolina tennis fans and students for coming out to support our program. I think it's one of the biggest crowds we've ever had."
The first doubles result came on Court 3, where junior Simon Soendergaard – whose father, John, was in the stands for the first time in his son's UNC career – and sophomore Mac Kiger teamed for a 6-3 win. Duke then earned a win by the same score on Court 1, putting all eyes on Court 2. Sophomore Benjamin Sigouin and freshman Brian Cernoch waged an epic battle with Duke's Jason Lapidus and Sean Sculley, going into a back-and-forth tiebreaker that the Blue Devils ultimately won 12-10.
It was the first time UNC had dropped a point this season and the first time the Tar Heels had lost the doubles point to Duke since the 2015 ACC Tournament.
"I'm not going to lie – I was really disappointed," Sigouin said. "I'm not going to say I blew it but I definitely had my chances. I sat on the bench there for like a couple of minutes and just knew I had to let it go and regroup. I started kind of slow in singles but I did my best."
And in the end that was plenty. UNC won first sets on all six courts, and Soendergaard was the first to wrap up a win, 6-2, 6-1 on Court 5. Cernoch then won 6-3, 6-1 against Sculley on No. 3. Kiger won 7-5, 6-3 on No. 6, leaving it to Sigouin to clinch on Court 2. His 6-4, 6-2 win marked the third time in this year's four matches that he has been the one to seal the Carolina victory.
Final UNC 4 Duke 1 Ben Sigouin clinches 6-4, 6-2
— UNC Men's Tennis (@carolinatennis) January 27, 2019
UNC advances to National Team Indoors for 5th straight season pic.twitter.com/gexLZQzzCj
UNC now has a ticket to Chicago and a spot in the prestigious field for the fifth year in a row, but can't afford to look ahead that far yet. Between now and then, the Tar Heels will play two challenging road matches: at No. 8 Texas on Feb. 2 and at No. 15 Illinois on Feb. 9.
"We consider ourselves one of the best teams in the country and we feel like that's an event we need to be at, but just getting to Chicago is not enough for us," said Blumberg, who celebrated a birthday on Saturday in addition to the big win. "We have a long way to go, a couple of tough weeks, but we're going to put in a lot of work and hopefully get a good result."
No. 6 North Carolina 4, No. 30 Duke 1
Doubles
Order of match finish: (3,1,2)
1. Stachowak/Furman (DU) d. Blumberg/Boyden (UNC), 6-3
2. Lapicus/Sculley d. Cernoch/Sigouin (UNC) 7-6 (12-10)
3. Soendergaard/Kiger (UNC) d. Mateas/Lin (DU), 6-3
Singles
Order of match finish: (5,3,6,2 )
1. William Blumberg (UNC) v. Nick Stachowak (DU), 6-4, 4-3, UF
2. Benjamin Sigouin (UNC) d. Spencer Furman (DU), 6-4, 6-2
3. Brian Cernoch (UNC) d. Sean Sculley (DU), 6-3, 6-1
4. Blaine Boyden (UNC) v. Catalin Mateas (DU), 7-6 (8-6), 1-1 UF
5. Simon Soendergaard (UNC) d. Jason Lapidus (DU), 6-2, 6-1
6. Mac Kiger (UNC) d. Vincent Lin (DU), 7-5, 6-3
Records: UNC 4-0, Duke 3-2
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
/ Men's Tennis
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