University of North Carolina Athletics
2005 North Carolina Men's Tennis Preview
January 15, 2005 | Men's Tennis
Jan. 15, 2005
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Coming off one of the most successful seasons in school history, the University of North Carolina men's tennis team looks towards the 2005 season with the task of replacing its top two singles players from a year ago. Still, Tar Heel coach Sam Paul, entering his 12th season at the helm of the UNC program, believes North Carolina will again be one of the nation's best teams in 2005.
A season ago, the Tar Heels were not thought of highly in national preseason analysis. But Carolina went on to become one of the surprise squads in the country in 2004. Carolina finished the season with a 23-5 overall dual match record and the Tar Heels earned the No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament, its highest seeding ever. UNC also hosted an NCAA regional tournament for the first time since the 64-team championship went to the current format in 1999. UNC also shared the Atlantic Coast Conference regular season championship with a 7-1 league mark. The Tar Heels made the second round of the NCAA Tournament before losing a heartbreaking 4-3 match to Ohio State, a squad which eventually made the NCAA Tournament quarterfinals. North Carolina was ranked 17th in the final Intercollegiate Tennis Association poll of the 2004 season and the Tar Heels are preseason ranked No. 18 in the first poll of 2005.
UNC lost five letter winners off the accomplished squad of 2004 led by first-team All-America and UNC Patterson Medal winner Nick Monroe, All-Atlantic Coast Conference honoree Andy Metzler and academic team captain Ben Aiken.
"We've lost the top two players out of lineup to graduation. It will be very difficult to replace those players in our lineup," says Sam Paul, who was voted the ACC Coach of the Year in 2004 for the fourth time in his 11-year coaching tenure at Carolina. "I've had the opportunity to coach many incredible student-athletes at UNC and Nick Monroe ranks as one of the very best in that group in terms of his incredible work ethic and his desire to get better. Nick did everything we ever asked him to. He is the most dedicated player I've coached here. Nick just can't be replaced.
"Andy Metzler was a starter for us for three years and was a key player on our ACC championship team in 2002. Andy had a number of significant wins last year in singles and doubles and he will be difficult to replace as well."
North Carolina does return four players who started in singles for the Tar Heels last season and a fifth player who was a starter in doubles. Coach Paul has also added the largest recruiting class in his tenure as eight true freshmen and a sophomore transfer join the Carolina roster for the 2005 season.
The returning starters in singles from a year ago include senior Geoff Boyd (Atlanta, Ga.), junior Brad Pomeroy (Asheville, N.C.), junior Derek Porter (Coral Springs, Fla.) and junior Raian Luchici (Timisoara, Romania). Boyd has been a starter at Carolina in each of his previous three seasons and Porter started as both as a freshman and sophomore. In addition, UNC also returns senior co-captain Jonathan Janda (Shelby, N.C.), a starter in the doubles lineup in 2004.
"Geoff Boyd won more matches for us last year than anyone on the team other than Nick Monroe, and he had an All-America year," says Coach Paul. "Geoff continued his outstanding play this past fall, particularly in doubles as he and Brad Pomeroy won the ITA Mideast Regional championship and made the quarterfinals of the ITA nationals. Geoff will be joined in the senior class by Jonathan Janda. Jonathan improved greatly as a junior in 2004 and he was rewarded by making the All-ACC Team last season." Coach Paul also has high praise for the three players in the junior class who return with significant starting experience.
"Brad Pomeroy is our academic team captain this year. Last year, he was spectacular on the court and should have made the All-ACC Team. He won 30 singles matches for us after not starting at all his freshman year. Brad continued his progress in the fall. He's really one of the hardest workers on on team.
"Raian Luchici was a transfer from Georgia last year and he did a great job in dual matches, going 22-4. Last spring, he was an All-ACC selection and overall he won 27 matches for us in his first year at Carolina. Derek Porter is a two-year starter for us. Derek battled back from elbow surgery in the fall of 2003 and that slowed him down in the spring but Derek still pulled out some wins in key matches for us, beating Todd Paul of Wake Forest and Tom Ecklund of South Carolina."
UNC's other returnees include junior P.J. Petrides (Chapel Hill, N.C.), sophomore Sebastien Guejman (Aventura, Fla.) and red-shirt freshman Leonard Gullan (Cape Town, South Africa).
That trio will be in the thick of competition for spots in the starting lineup with a cast of nine newcomers. The group includes two transfers -- Aly Mandour (Cairo, Egypt), who will have sophomore status after transferring from USC-Spartanburg and Benjamin Carlotti (Paris, France), who will be a true freshman after transferring from Ole Miss.
Coach Paul also brought in an outstanding group of seven more freshmen, all with promising futures. They include Sandeep Daiya (Acworth, Ga.), Tristan Heinrich (Boise, Idaho), Jeremy Lieberman (New York, N.Y.), Will Plyler (Raleigh, N.C.), Jeff Schroeder (Raleigh, N.C.), David Stone (Greensboro, N.C.) and Karl Wishart (Baden-Baden, Germany).
"Benjamin Carlotti had an outstanding fall in singles and I expect he still has a lot of room for growth in his game. He had 10 wins for us in the fall and won two tournament championships. That's awfully impressive for a true freshman," says Coach Paul.
"I'm also pleased with David Stone and Will Plyler. They both improved tremendously in the fall. They were playing much better at the end of the fall than they were at the start. Karl Wishart also had some outstanding showings in the fall and has shown improvement."
Ranked 18th in the preseason poll by the ITA, North Carolina will face a rugged schedule in 2005. Fourteen of the 25 regular season matches will come against team's ranked in top 75 of the ITA standings.
"Obviously, it is nice to be ranked in the preseason but that ranking is based more on what last year's team accomplished," says Coach Paul, who has captured ITA Mideast Region Coach of the Year honors three times. "The Atlantic Coast Conference is obviously going to be very difficult this year with three teams in the Top 20 of the preseason poll and 10 of 11 teams overall ranked in the preseason poll."
UNC opens its season against Davidson on January 22. The Tar Heels will receive a stern early-season test in the second weekend with a trip to play Notre Dame and Northwestern on the road. This year's spring break trip will be highlighted by matches on the road against Alabama and Auburn, both Southeastern Conference powers.
Players Mentioned
