Men's Tennis Outlasts Hokies, 4-3

Friday, February 28

Chapel Hill

4 PM

North Carolina

Virginia Tech

Constantinos Djakouris

Photo by: ANTHONY SORBELLINI

February 28, 2025 | Men's Tennis

Photo Gallery

By: Matt Bowers

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—Constantinos Djakouris won the clincher as the University of North Carolina men's tennis team fell behind early but clawed its way to a 4-3 win over Virginia Tech in its first outdoor match of the season at the Chewning Tennis Center on Friday afternoon.

Virginia Tech's Ilyas Fahim dominated portions of his first set against Djakouris at No. 2 singles, winning the frame by a 6-2 score. Djakouris stormed back in the second set, however, winning the final three games in succession for a 6-3 win. In the third, he broke Fahim to take a 6-5 lead, then held serve and won, 7-5, to clinch the team victory.

The back-and-forth match lasted over three hours and was the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both schools. With the win, the Tar Heels improved to 7-3 this season and 1-0 in the ACC. The Hokies fell to 8-4, 0-1.

"I'm proud of our guys, what a battle," said Tar Heel head coach Sam Paul afterward. "All the way up and down the line, what a fight. I'm proud of our team and how hard they fought. We lost the doubles point, we're disappointed in that, it's been awhile since we've done that. To come back and win, three hours and 20 minutes in, that's pretty tough. I think it also shows our resilience and our fitness. I'm happy for our guys."

Virginia Tech came from behind to win at No. 2 and No. 3 doubles to take the doubles point and a 1-0 lead to start the day. Diego Jarry and Anthony Wright led, 4-3, at No.2 before Scott Sculley and Fahim came back to win, 6-4. At No. 3 doubles, Djakouris and Nick Mangiapane led, 4-3, before dropping a 6-4 decision to Victor Kimpel and Eyal Shumilov. The Tar Heels lost the doubles point for just the third time in 10 matches this season.

In singles action, Chris Xu won the day's first match in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, at No. 3 to tie the team score at 1-all. Xu won his sixth consecutive match and improved to 12-4 overall this season, 7-1 in dual matches.

Jarry gave Carolina a 2-1 lead with a straight-set win at No. 5 over Shumilov, 6-4, 7-6 (8). The Hokies' Alberto Orso beat Nick Mangiapane at No. 6 singles to tie the team score at 2-all, then UNC reclaimed the lead at 3-2 when Wright completed a straight-set win at No. 4 over Kimpel.

The Hokies tied the score again at 3-3 with Maxime St. Hilaire's win over Vladislav Melnic at No. 1 before Djakouris won the clincher to end the match.

FINAL SCORE: North Carolina 4, Virginia Tech 3

Friday, February 28, 2025
Chewning Tennis Center
Chapel Hill, N.C.

Match Results
Doubles
1.Vladislav Melnic/Chris Xu (UNC) vs. #84 Matt Harper/Alberto Orso, 6-5 (unfinished)
2.Scott Sculley/Ilyas Fahim def. Diego Jarry/Anthony Wright (UNC), 6-4
3.Victor Kimpel/Eyal Shumilov def. Constantinos Djakouris/Nick Mangiapane, 6-4
(Order of finish: 2, 3)

Singles

Maxime St. Hilaire def, Vladislav Melnic (UNC) 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (1)
Constantinos Djakouris (UNC) def. Ilyas Fahim, 2-6, 6-3, 7-5
#113 Chris Xu (UNC) def. Patrick Jurina, 6-4, 6-2
#114 Anthony Wright (UNC) def. Victor Kimpel, 7-6 (3), 7-5
Diego Jarry (UNC) def. Eyal Shumilov, 6-4, 7-6 (8)
Alberto Orso def. Nick Mangiapane (UNC) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3

(Order of finish: 3, 5, 6, 4, 1, 2)
Time of match: 3:20

Up Next
• The Tar Heels will play their second home ACC match of the weekend on Sunday March 2 versus Virginia at 1 p.m. at the Chewning Tennis Center.

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

Constantinos Djakouris moments after clinching the 4-3 victory over Virginia Tech in Friday's @ACCTennis opener pic.twitter.com/sbpaQte9TS
— Carolina Men's Tennis 🐏🎾 (@carolinatennis) March 1, 2025