Men's Tennis Upends No. 24 Georgia, 6-1

Sunday, February 11

Chapel Hill

1 PM

North Carolina

#24 Georgia

Tar Heel team celebrates doubles point

Chapel Hill, NC – Feb 11: NCAA Men's Tennis - Georgia at North Carolina at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in Chapel Hill, NC on February 11, 2024. (Credit: Andy Mead/YCJ)

Photo by: Andy Mead/UNC Athletics

February 11, 2024 | Men's Tennis

Photos Photo Gallery

By: Matt Bowers

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—Karl Poling won the clinching match as North Carolina's men's tennis team earned a 6-1 win over No. 24 Georgia on Sunday afternoon at the Cone-Kenfield Indoor Courts at the Chewning Tennis Center.

No. 25 Carolina won the doubles point and never looked back, taking a 6-0 lead before dropping the final singles match of the day.

UNC won its second in a row and improved to 5-3 this season. The Tar Heels are 5-1 at home. The Bulldogs, who lost on Friday at Virginia in a weekend road swing against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents, fell to 4-3.

UNC earned wins at No. 2 doubles (Will Jansen and Karl Poling) and No. 3 doubles (Peter Murphy and Patrick Schoen).

The Tar Heels picked up five singles wins, including from Will Peters (No. 6), Phillip Jordan (No. 3), Poling (No. 4), Jansen (No. 1) and Schoen (No. 5).

How It Happened
Doubles
• Carolina got the first win in a back-and-forth match at No.2 when Jansen and Poling beat Niels Ratiu and Freddy Blaydes, 6-4.
• Georgia's Thomas Paulsell and Ryan Colby jumped out to a 4-1 lead at No. 1 and held on to win, 6-3, over Jordan and Kittay.
• Carolina's Murphy and Schoen clawed back at No. 3 doubles to take the team point after trailing in the early going. After Georgia took a 4-1 lead, Murphy and Schoen won three straight games to even the score at 4-all. Things eventually went to a tiebreaker, which UNC won, 7-3.

Singles
• Will Peters raced to a 6-1, first-set win at No. 6 against Cyrus Mahjoob, then matched that effort in the second set for a 6-1, 6-1 final tally and a 2-0 UNC team lead.
• Shortly thereafter, Jordan gave Carolina a 3-0 lead with a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 3 over #51 Miguel Perez Pena.
• Poling won the clincher at No. 4 singles. He took the first set in a tiebreaker before falling behind, 4-2, in the second set. He then ripped off four straight wins for the 7-6 (6), 6-4 win.
• Jansen beat #68 Paulsell in three sets, dropping the first before winning 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 to make it 5-0 Tar Heels.
• Schoen picked up two early breaks to lead, 3-1, in first set, eventually building a 4-1 advantage. Georgia's Blaydes climbed back before the Tar Heel freshman held on for a 7-6 (4) win. Schoen had an easier time in the second set, winning 6-3 for a 6-0 UNC lead.

Notes & Tidbits
• Jansen and Poling won their second doubles match in a row and improved to 4-4 this season as a duo.
• The No. 1 and No. 2 singles frames both featured matchups of ranked opponents. At No. 1, it was #68 Paulsell versus #94 Jansen, and No. 2 matched #44 Colby against #60 Kittay.
• By winning the clinching doubles match, Murphy and Schoen improved to 6-2 this season, including 5-2 in dual match action.
• Peters, ranked #110, improved to 19-8 on the season with his straight-set win at No. 6. He leads the Tar Heels in singles victories.
• Jordan has won three consecutive singles matches, two of which have come against ranked opponents.
• Schoen, a freshman from Switzerland, won his third consecutive singles match.
• Sunday's match continued a seven-match homestand for the Tar Heels that includes the final three non-conference matches of 2024, as well as four home Atlantic Coast Conference matches on the first two weekends in March.

Up Next
• Carolina will host Furman on Monday February 26 at 4 p.m. in Chapel Hill.

Follow Carolina Tennis
Keep up with all the latest Tar Heel tennis news by following @carolinatennis on X and @tarheeltennis on Instagram.

vs North Carolina
2/11/2024 at Chapel Hill, N.C. (Chewning Tennis Center)
#25 North Carolina 6, #24 Georgia 1

Singles competition
1. #94 Will Jansen (NC) def. #68 Thomas Paulsell (UGA) 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
2. #44 Ryan Colby (UGA) def. #60 Benjamin Kittay (NC) 7-5, 2-6, 6-3
3. Phillip Jordan (NC) def. #51 Miguel Perez Peña (UGA) 6-2, 6-1
4. #75 Karl Poling (NC) def. Niels Ratiu (UGA) 7-6 (8-6), 6-4 (CLINCHER)
5. Patrick Schoen (NC) def. Freddy Blaydes (UGA) 7-6 (7-4), 6-3
6. #110 Will Peters (NC) def. Cyrus Mahjoob (UGA) 6-1, 6-1

Doubles competition
1. Thomas Paulsell/Ryan Colby (UGA) def. Phillip Jordan/Benjamin Kittay (NC) 6-3
2. Will Jansen/Karl Poling (NC) def. Niels Ratiu/Freddy Blaydes (UGA) 6-4
3. Peter Murphy/Patrick Schoen (NC) def. Miguel Perez Peña/Cyrus Mahjoob (UGA) 7-6 (7-3)

Match Notes:
Georgia 4-3; National ranking #24
North Carolina 5-3; National ranking #25
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (6,3,4,1,5,2)
T-3:02 A-355