University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
ITA Region II Championships
UNC Sends Two Singles Players to the Semifinals
October 26, 2002 | Men's Tennis
Oct. 26, 2002
Chapel Hill, NC - UNC junior Nicholas Monroe and UNC senior Trystan Meniane defeated nationally ranked players Saturday to advance to the semifinals round at the Omni Hotels/Intercollegiate Tennis Association Mideast Region Championships. Carolina is the only team to have two players in the singles semifinals and a doubles team in the finals schedule for Sunday at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.
North Carolina players have now beaten five opponents ranked in the top 21 in the ITA Mideast Region Rankings since the tournament began. Meniane beat Wake Forest's David Lowenthal who was ranked No. 28 nationally in singles. He faces No. 34 nationally ranked Florian Marquardt of Virginia Commonwealth.
The two winners of the semifinal matches receive automatic invitations to the ITA National Indoors, Nov. 8-10 in Dallas, Texas. "I would like to redeem myself somewhat since I lost to [Marquardt] last year 7-6 in the third (set)," said Meniane about his match Sunday. "It will be a tough match and a very important one."
Monroe defeated Virginia Commonwealth's Pedro Nieto, ranked No. 74 nationally in singles and seeded seventh in the tournament. Monroe was down 4-1 in the second set of his first match before winning five straight games to close out the match 6-0, 6-4.
Coach Sam Paul said, "My hat goes off to Nick. Today he had the heart of a lion. He was tired and fatigued from playing two long matches. He stepped up his level of intensity at key times in both matches."
Monroe faces Georgia Tech's Roger Anderson who is ranked No. 20 nationally in singles in the semifinals.
Monroe and Carolina sophomore David Pinchbeck also defeated No. 5 seeded Duke pair of Jonathan Stokke and Jason Zimmerman to advance to the doubles finals. They face Zoltan Csanadi and Izak van der Merwe in the semifinal round Sunday at noon. The winner of the finals match also advances to the ITA National Indoors.
Finals for the ITA/Omni Invitational begin Sunday at 9 a.m. and are open to the public.
Players Mentioned
