University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Stun No. 8 Blue Devils In ACC Tournament Quarterfinals
April 22, 2005 | Men's Tennis
April 22, 2005
CARY, N.C. - After dropping the doubles point, North Carolina's men's tennis team stormed back with victories in four singles matches to upset eighth-ranked Duke 4-2 in the quarterfinals of the 2005 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament at the Cary Tennis Center Friday afternoon. The win was clinched by senior Jonathan Janda at No. 5 singles as he rallied for a 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 win over Duke's Ned Samuelson.
The Tar Heels improved to 16-9 overall on the season with the victory and in the process they became only the second team seeded as low as No. 7 to reach the ACC Tournament semifinals since it went to a team tournament format in 1986. The other team to do so was Clemson as a No. 7 seed in 2001 after it upset a No. 2 seeded UNC team that season in the quarterfinals.
Duke fell to 18-5 this year with the loss and the Blue Devils lost for the first time this year to a team not ranked in the Top 25 at the time of the match. The Blue Devils had beaten UNC 7-0 in the regular season meeting at Chapel Hill on April 13, the only time Carolina had been shut out in a match this season.
Friday's victory also marked the first time in school history, dating back to the start of UNC tennis in 1908, that a Carolina team has been shut out by an opponent as it was by Duke just nine days ago only to come back later in the same season and avenge the loss.
With the win, the Tar Heels advanced to the ACC Tournament semifinals on Saturday where they will play No. 25 Florida State (17-6) at 1 p.m. The Tar Heels fell to the Seminoles in the regular season meeting 4-3 on March 6 in Chapel Hill. Florida State is one of the hottest teams in the nation, having won nine of its last 10 matches, losing only to Duke 5-2 on March 27 in that span. FSU has won five straight going into Saturday's match.
North Carolina's victory over the Blue Devils ended an 11-match losing streak for the Tar Heels against their arch rivals. Duke had won the last nine regular-season matches and the last two ACC Tournament matchups.
Carolina's last victory over Duke was on April 11, 1996 when the Tar Heels prevailed 4-3 in Durham in the regular season matchup. Duke began its winning streak again Carolina later that season in the ACC Tournament. UNC's last victory over the Devils in ACC Tournament play was April 19, 1992 when UNC edged Duke 5-4 in the championship match at Charlotte, N.C. At No. 8, Duke is the highest-ranked opponent the Tar Heels have vanquished since April 2, 2004 when they beat No. 3 Georgia 4-2 at Athens, Ga.
"I don't think I could be prouder of my guys right now," said UNC head coach Sam Paul. "This was a great team victory for us. We were playing one of the best teams in the nation that just nine days ago had beaten us at home 7-0 with us winning only one set in the match.
"We did not play as well in doubles as I had hoped but we did not hang our heads and came out in singles and just took it to them, winning the first set on five courts. Both of our seniors -- Geoff Boyd and Jonathan Janda -- stepped up to win in singles with Jonathan coming from behind in his match to clinch the victory for us. This is just a very emotional, very satisfying, very gratifying win for our program. But we have to be ready to come back and play another good team tomorrow."
The match did not start auspiciously for Carolina, however, as Duke claimed the doubles point. At No. 3 doubles, the Blue Devils' Peter Rodrigues and Alex Stone defeated North Carolina's Aly Mandour and Derek Porter by an 8-4 score. Duke then earned the point by rallying from a 4-0 deficit at No. 2 doubles to claim the match 8-5 with Ludovic Walter and Charles Brezac overcoming the UNC tandem of Raian Luchici and Jonathan Janda. Play was halted at No. 1 doubles with UNC's Geoff Boyd and Brad Pomeroy leading Jason Zimmerman and Jonathan Stokke 7-5 and Boyd and Pomeroy about to begin their service game in an effort to win the match.
Prior to Friday's match, Carolina was only 1-9 this season when losing the doubles point but that did not deter the Tar Heels on Friday. In fact, three of the four players who were on losing doubles teams on Friday came back to win their singles matches.
UNC's Derek Porter began the Tar Heel comeback when he defeated Duke freshman Charles Brezac at the No. 4 singles spot by a 6-3, 7-5 score. Porter broke Brezac's service in the 12th game of the second set to post the victory, giving Porter his 20th singles win of the 200405 season. UNC senior Geoff Boyd then put UNC ahead by outlasting Duke sophomore Peter Rodrigues 7-6, 6-4 at No. 3 singles. Boyd and Rodrigues stayed on serve throughout the entire first set before going to a tiebreaker that Boyd prevailed in by a 7-3 score, improving his record in tiebreakers this year to 7-3. Boyd then went up 5-2 in the second set before Rodrigues won successive games. Boyd then broke Rodrigues in the 10th game of the second set to win the match. Boyd's timely win broke a personal four-match losing streak in singles and could not have come at a more propitious time for the Tar Heels.
Raian Luchici then gave the Tar Heels a 3-1 lead with a 6-1, 7-6 victory over nationally fifth-ranked Ludovic Walter at the No. 1 spot. After Luchici dominated the first set, Walter led in the second set 5-2 before Luchici won three straight games to tie the set at 5-5. Both players then held serve with Walter going up 6-5 and then Luchici forcing the tiebreaker which he won 7-5.
Next off the court was the No. 2 singles match where Duke junior Jonathan Stokke, a junior from Chapel Hill, rallied past Carolina junior Brad Pomeroy, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 in a nailbiter of an encounter. Pomeroy was serving for the match at 5-4 in the third set but was broken and eventually the set went to a tiebreaker that was as close as the entire match. Pomeroy had one match point in the tiebreaker at 6-5 but Stokke won the final three points to prevail 8-6.
Attention then turned to courts 5 and 6 where both matches were then in the third sets. UNC's Jonathana Janda and Duke's Ned Samuelson had split the first two sets with Samuelson winning 6-4 in the first and Janda holding his serve at 6-5 and forcing a second set tiebreaker that he won 7-0. Janda fought off a match point when trailing 5-6 in that second set to stay alive in the match before winning the tiebreaker, his seventh tiebreaker win against only one loss this season. Meanwhile, on court six, UNC freshman Benjamin Carlotti beat Duke's Jason Zimmerman 6-4 in the first and Zimmerman won the second set 7-5.
Janda led the second set on serve 4-3 when he broke Samuelson to go up 5-3 only to be broken right back for a 5-4 score. But Janda then prevailed with the third successive service break in the 10th game as he won on a 30-40 point when Samuelson's return landed in the net. Janda improved to 7-1 in three-set matches this season with the win.
The No. 6 singles match was called at that point in the third set with Zimmerman leading in the third set 3-2.
UNC's win on Friday won back one-half point from Duke for the Tar Heels in the 2004-05 Carlyle Cup standings. Duke had won the men's tennis point in the regular season but UNC's win Friday means the schools will now split the point. The Carlyle Cup is awarded annually to the all-sports champion between the two schools based on head-to-head competition in 23 sports. The Cup is sponsored by Carlyle and Company. UNC leads the current year's standings by 13 points to 9 points after adjusting for Friday's tennis result.
The meeting Friday between Carolina and Duke was the first time the two teams met in the ACC Tournament since April 23, 2000 when the Blue Devils won in the championship match 4-1.
North Carolina is 1-1 all-time in ACC Tournament matches with Florida State. The last meeting between the two schools in ACC Tournament action was April 18, 1997 when the Seminoles defeated the Tar Heels in the quarterfinal round at Greenwood, S.C.
#45 NORTH CAROLINA 4, #8 DUKE 2
Doubles (Team winning majority of three matches earns one team point)
#1 Geoff Boyd/Brad Pomeroy (UNC) led Jason Zimmerman/Jonathan Stokke (Duke), 7-5, Did Not Finish
#2 Ludovic Walter/Charles Brezac (Duke) def. Jonathan Janda/Raian Luchici (UNC), 8-5
#3 Peter Rodrigues/Alex Stone (Duke) def. Aly Mandour/Derek Porter (UNC), 8-4
Order of Finish: #3, #2
Singles
#1 #70 Raian Luchici (UNC) def. #5 Ludovic Walter (Duke), 6-1, 7-6 (5)
#2 #71 Jonathan Stokke (Duke) def. Brad Pomeroy (UNC), 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (6)
#3 Geoff Boyd (UNC) def. Peter Rodrigues (Duke), 7-6 (3), 6-4
#4 Derek Porter (UNC) def. Charles Brezac (Duke), 6-3, 7-5
#5 Jonathan Janda (UNC) def. Ned Samuelson (Duke), 4-6, 7-6 (0), 6-4*
#6 Jason Zimmerman (Duke) led #121 Benjamin Carlotti (UNC), 4-6, 7-5, 3-2, Did Not Finish
*Match clincher
Order of Finish: #4, #3, #1, #2, #5
Team Records: North Carolina 16-9, Duke 18-5
Players Mentioned
