University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Wrap Up Play at ITA Mideast Regional
October 26, 2003 | Men's Tennis
Oct. 26, 2003
Chapel Hill, N.C. - The Tar Heel Men's Tennis team wrapped up play at the ITA Mideast Region Indoor Championships presented by Carolina Caf? and Bakery on Saturday. Carolina's Nicholas Monroe, ranked 43rd nationally in singles, advanced to the Round of 16 where he faced Virginia's Stephen Rozek.
Monroe gamely fought back from a 5-1 deficit in the third set. With Rozek serving for the match at 5-2, 40-0, Monroe saved three match points to break serve. Monroe held to draw within 5-4, but Rozek was able to serve out the match and clinch a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 victory.
Four Tar Heels competed in the main draw of the tournament. Sophomore Raian Luchici, junior Jonathan Janda and senior Andy Metzler all advanced to the second round in the 64 player singles draw. Luchici and Metzler faced tough draws, playing two of the tournament's top four seeds in the second round. Luchici battled the tournament's eventual champion Ludovic Walter, seeded second, before falling 7-5, 6-2. Number four seed Nathan Thompson defeated Metzler 6-1, 6-3.
Carolina's Jonathan Janda battled through qualifying, playing five matches in three days. Janda, the Shelby native, grinded out two three set victories on Thursday in the final rounds of qualifying. Janda rallied to beat Winthrop's Gary Kilduff 3-6, 7-6, 6-2. A few hours later, Janda defeated R.J. Murray, N.C. State's top singles player from last year, to advance to the main draw.
Sunday's semifinal spots were occupied by several surprises, as the ninth, 11th, and 13th seeds joined the number two seed in the final four. William & Mary's Jeff Kader recorded the tournament's biggest upset by defeating top seed Mat Cloer (Florida State) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals. Kader's run continued all the way to the finals where he lost to Duke's Walter 6-4, 6-2. Both singles finalists qualified for the ITA National Indoor Championships in two weeks at the University of Michigan.
For the 10th consecutive year, the University of North Carolina's Cone-Kenfield Indoor Tennis Center hosted the Atlantic Coast's premier men's tennis tournament. The tournament is conducted by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) at eight regional sites around the country. Each regional tournament serves as a qualifier for the ITA National Indoor Championships, the second leg of the collegiate tennis grand slam. This year's National Indoor Championship brings together 32 of the top singles players and 16 doubles teams in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Players Mentioned
