North Carolina
Duke
No. 12 Tar Heels Fall To No. 6 Duke 4-3
April 12, 2006 | Men's Tennis
April 12, 2006
DURHAM, N.C. - No. 18 Raian Luchici upset No. 4 Ludovic Walter and Benjamin Carlotti and Brad Pomeroy also scored singles victories, but it was not enough as the 12th-ranked North Carolina Tar Heels fell to No. 6 Duke Wednesday 4-3 in a match played in Ambler Stadium on the Duke campus. The loss is only the third on the year for the Tar Heels who drop to 21-3 overall and 6-3 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Duke improves to 16-5 overall and 8-1 in the ACC.
With the Carolina loss, Duke has closed the gap in the Carlyle Cup competition. Both the Tar Heels and Blue Devils now have 10 points each in the head-to-head competition. The Carlyle Cup is a year-long competition between the schools' athletic departments.
The Blue Devils took an early 1-0 lead in the match as their pair of nationally-ranked doubles teams scored victories over Carolina's doubles tandems at No. 1 and No. 2. 50th-ranked Joey Atas and Jonathan Stokke upset No. 6 Raian Luchici and Brad Pomeroy before No. 57 Stephen Amritraj and Peter Rodrigues clinched the doubles point with a win over Lenny Gullan and David Stone. Sebastian Guejman and Derek Porter earned the lone doubles victory for the Tar Heels, defeating Ned Samuelson and Ludovic Walter 9-8 (5).
In singles play, Duke pushed its lead to 3-0 with wins at No. 3 and No. 6. Carolina, however, would not quit and cut into the lead 3-1 as Benjamin Carlotti battled for Carolina's first point, defeating No. 111 Kiril Dimitrov 7-5, 6-3 at. No 5.
As Carolina cut the lead, three matches remained on the court. Sebastian Guejman battled Duke's Joey Atas to a third set before Atas put the Devils up 4-1 and clinched the match with a 6-7, 6-1, 6-1 victory at No. 4.
The remaining two matches at No. 1 and No. 2 also were extremely close. The Tar Heels took both matches to earn the final 4-3 score. 18th-ranked Raian Luchici upset No. 4 Ludovic Walter 7-6 (3), 7-5 at No. 1 and Brad Pomeroy closed out the match with an upset victory over 37th-ranked Jonathan Stokke 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3.
Carolina will attempt to rebound from the loss with two ACC matches this weekend. The Tar Heels host 11th-ranked Virginia on Friday at 2:30 p.m. before taking on 57th-ranked Virginia Tech at home on Sunday at 1 p.m. The matches close out North Carolina's regular season schedule and will be held at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in Chapel Hill.
No. 6 Duke 4, No. 12 North Carolina 3
Doubles (pro sets, team winning at least two of three matches earns one team point)
No. 1 #50 Joey Atas / Jonathan Stokke (DU) d. #6 Raian Luchici / Brad Pomeroy (UNC) 8-4
No. 2 #57 Stephen Amritraj / Peter Rodrigues (DU) d. Lenny Gullan / David Stone (UNC) 8-5
No. 3 Sebastian Guejman / Derek Porter (UNC) d. Ned Samuelson / Ludovic Walter (DU) 9-8 (5)
*Duke wins doubles point
Order of finish: 1, 2, 3
Singles (best of three sets)
No. 1 #18 Raian Luchici (UNC) d. #4 Ludovic Walter (DU) 7-6 (3), 7-5
No. 2 Brad Pomeroy (UNC) d. #37 Jonathan Stokke (DU) 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3
No. 3 #70 Peter Rodrigues (DU) d. Derek Porter (UNC) 6-1, 6-3
No. 4 Joey Atas (DU) d. Sebastian Guejman (UNC) 6-7, 6-1, 6-1 *
No. 5 Benjamin Carlotti (UNC) d. #111 Kiril Dimitrov 7-5, 7-5
No. 6 Stephen Amritraj (DU) d. Will Plyler (UNC) 6-1, 6-3
Order of finish: 3, 6, 5, 4*, 1, 2
*Clinched match
Records: North Carolina 21-3, ACC 6-3; Duke 16-5, 8-1 ACC
Players Mentioned
