University of North Carolina Athletics
Men's and Women's Tennis Teams Head to Conference Tournament
June 21, 1999 | Men's Tennis
April 21, 1999
THE BASIC FACTS: The North Carolina men's and women's tennis team will head down I-85 South this week to take part in the 1999 Atlantic Coast Conference Men's and Women's Tennis Championships, being held at the Racquet Club of the South in Norcross, Ga.
The North Carolina men's team, coached by sixth-year head coach Sam Paul, is seeking its first conference title since 1992. The Tar Heel women's squad, under the leadership of first-year head coach Roland Thornqvist, is seeking it first league championship since the 1981 season.
Both teams open up play in the 1999 ACC Tournament on Friday with quarterfinal matches. The sixth-seeded UNC men's team plays the third-seeded Clemson Tigers in a quarterfinal match at 9 a.m. on Friday morning, April 23. The Tar Heel women's team, which has earned the #4 seed in the tournament, will play the fifth-seeded University of Maryland at 6 p.m. on Friday in a quarterfinal match.
The Tar Heel men are currently ranked #72 in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. The Heels are 11-13 overall and 3-5 in the ACC. Carolina tied for fifth in the regular-season standings.
The Tar Heel women are currently ranked #28 in the nation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. The Heels are 14-7 overall and 4-4 in the ACC. Carolina tied for fourth in the regular-season standings.
BIG TURNAROUND FOR WOMEN: The North Carolina women's tennis team ranks as one of the nation's most improved teams during the 1998-99 season. Under the leadership of first-year head coach Roland Thornqvist, himself a 1993 graduate of Carolina, the Heels have improved their overall mark from 5-17 in 1997-98 to 14-7 in 1998-99. The Tar Heels improved their ACC regular-season record from 1-7 in 1997-98 to 4-4 in 1998-99. The team's ACC finish improved from ninth to a tie for fourth. And Carolina went from being unranked last year to this week's 28th-place national ranking.
CAROLINA IN THE ACC UNDER SAM PAUL: The North Carolina men's tennis team has posted a very solid 81-25 record against Atlantic Coast Conference opponents since Sam Paul joined the Tar Heel coaching staff as an assistant coach in 1989. Paul served as an assistant coach to Allen Morris for four years and then was promoted to the head coaching job in 1993.
CAROLINA'S ACC TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS: The North Carolina men's tennis program has won more Atlantic Coast Conference men's tennis championships than any other team in the league. Since the ACC's founding in 1953, the Tar Heels have been crowned as the league titlist 24 times, most recently in 1992.
The Tar Heel women have earned four Atlantic Coast Conference women's tennis championships but the team is hungry for another title. UNC has not claimed the top prize since the 1981 season.
TAR HEELS EARN THREE RUNNERUP PLAQUES: No North Carolina player was able to win an individual flight championship during play in 1999 but three Tar Heels did earn runner-up plaques from the conference.
The men's team had two runnerup finishes. Junior Assaf Drori from Jerusalem, Israel finished as the ACC runnerup at #2 singles behind Georgia Tech's Matt Cozad. Drori had a 7-1 ACC singles record this year but suffered his only loss to Cozad who won the tiebreaker for the singles title.
Carolina sophomore David Cheatwood from Fayetteville, N.C. ranks as the ACC singles flight runnerup at #3 singles. Cheatwood was 5-3 overall in ACC dual match play. He was 5-2 at the #3 spot in the lineup.
On the women's side of the ledger, junior Cena Hackler from Myrtle Beach, S.C. earned the ACC's runnerup plaque at #4 singles. One of the most improved players in the ACC, Hackler posted an ACC dual match record of 6-1 this year, including a 5-1 mark at the #4 spot in the lineup.
20-MATCH WINNERS FOR THE WOMEN: The North Carolina women's tennis team finished the 1998-99 regular-season with three players with 20 or more wins in singles play and another player on the threshold with 19 victories.
Junior Jeni Burnette from Raleigh, N.C. finished with a record of 21-6 overall in singles, including a 16-2 mark in dual-match play (13-2 at #6 singles). Junior Cena Hackler from Myrtle Beach, S.C. was 21-8 overall on the season, including a sterling 15-3 mark in dual matches (8-2 at #4 singles). Sophomore Courtney Zalinski, a native of Greer, S.C., was 22-12 overall in singles play, including a mark of 14-6 in dual matches (9-3 at #5 singles).
Junior Jessica Zaganczyk of Virginia Beach, Va. has manned the #1 singles spot for North Carolina most of the season. In and out of the national singles rankings all year, Zaganczyk finished the regular season 19-12 overall in dual matches, including a 12-8 mark in dual matches at #1.
THE MEN'S STRUGGLES...NOT AS BAD AS IT LOOKS: Playing one of the most difficult schedules in the country, the North Carolina men have struggled this year, posting the team's first sub-.500 record since going 14-16 in 1986. Carolina's 3-5 mark in the ACC was the team's was UNC's first losing record in the league since going 0-7 in 1988.
To show you how good Carolina tennis has been over the years, the 3-5 mark in the ACC was only the fourth time since the league's founding in 1954 that Carolina has finished with a losing record in regular-season play. The Tar Heels were also 1-5 in 1979, 3-4 in 1981 and 0-7 in 1988.
It was also only the fourth time in Atlantic Coast Conference history that the Tar Heels have finished in the second division of the ACC standings--Carolina was sixth in 1979, tied for fifth in 1981, eighth in 1988 and tied for fifth in 1998.
Only by comparison to the history of Carolina tennis does the 1998-99 look bleak. But this was not unexpected. Coming off the 1998 season, the Tar Heels lost five of six starters in singles for various reasons--two graduated, two transferred (one to Georgia, one to USC) and senior co-captain Tripp Phillips was lost for the season with a shoulder injury.
Coach Sam Paul scrambled to move senior co-captain Mike Grass to the #1 spot in the singles lineup after he had played #6 singles all of last year. The remainder of the lineup consists of players without much experience in the Carolina tennis program. Transfers Assaf Drori, Aron Breziner and Chad Riley were slotted in at the #2, #4 and #6 spots, sophomore David Cheatwood, who saw limited action last year, was elevated to #3 and freshman Bjorn Rencken stepped in at #5.
It has been a challenging year for this inexperienced lineup. The good news is that all but Grass return next year and the Heels will also get Phillips back from his injury. The Tar Heels will most likely be a much improved team in 1999-2000.
DRORI, CHEATWOOD COME UP BIG FOR THE HEELS: Carolina junior transfer Assaf Drori and sophomore David Cheatwood from Fayetteville, N.C. have enjoyed the most success in singles play for the Tar Heel men's team this year. Drori has posted a 17-9 singles record for the Tar heels, including an outstanding 16-4 mark in ITA Region II matches. Cheatwood is 17-15 overall playing at the top three spots in the lineup all year. Drori was 7-4 at #2 singles this year and 4-0 at #3. Cheatwood was 3-2 at the #2 spot and 8-5 at #3. All the other Tar Heel singles players have overall records which hover right around the .500 mark.
1999 Men's ACC Championships
At Racquet Club of the South, Norcross, Ga.
#6 North Carolina vs. #3 Clemson
Friday, April 23, 1999, 9:00 a.m. E.D.T.
Saturday, April 24, 1999, 11:00 a.m. E.D.T.
Sunday, April 25, 1999, 12 p.m. E.D.T.
1999 Women's ACC Championships
At Racquet Club of the South, Norcross, Ga.
#4 North Carolina vs. #5 Maryland
Friday, April 23, 1999, 6:00 p.m. E.D.T.
Saturday, April 24, 1999, 2:00 p.m. E.D.T.
Sunday, April 25, 1999, 12 p.m. E.D.T.
THE WOMEN'S LINEUP: The North Carolina women will play the following lineup in this weekend's Atlantic Coast Conference championship.
SINGLES
#1 Jessica Zaganczyk #2 Caroline Hill #3 Cena Hackler #4 Sarah Hawkins #5 Courtney Zalinski #6 Jeni Burnette #7 Emi Shaffer
DOUBLES
#1 Cena Hackler-Jessica Zaganczyk #2 Sarah Hawkins-Caroline Hill #3 Jeni Burnette-Courtney Zalinski
THE MEN'S LINEUP: The North Carolina men will play the following lineup in this weekend's Atlantic Coast Conference championship.
SINGLES
#1 Michael Grass #2 Assaf Drori #3 David Cheatwood #4 Aron Breziner #5 Bjorn Rencken #6 Chad Riley #7 Ben Elix #8 Remi AdamekDOUBLES
#1 Ben Elix-Michael Grass #2 Remi Adamek-Assaf Drori #3 David Cheatwood-Bjorn Rencken
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Players Mentioned
