University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Knocked Out Of ACC Tournament By Seminoles
April 21, 2006 | Men's Tennis
April 21, 2006
CARY, N.C. - No. 11 North Carolina saw its hopes for a 2006 Atlantic Coast Conference championship dashed early as No. 19 Florida State handed the Tar Heels a 4-2 loss in the quarterfinal round Friday at the Cary Tennis Center. The victory by the Seminoles avenged a 5-2 loss to the Tar Heels in the regular season on March 31 in Tallahassee, Fla.
Florida State, a 2005 NCAA Tournament quarterfinalist, advances to the ACC semifinals and the Seminoles will meet No.3 Duke Saturday at 10 a.m. FSU has won six of seven matches since losing to Carolina on March 31 with the only loss coming at No. 9 Virginia.
UNC ends its regular season at 23-4 and 8-3 in the ACC. FSU is 17-10 and 8-3 in the ACC. FSU has knocked UNC out of the ACC Tournament each of the last two years. Last year the Seminoles beat UNC 4-2 in the semifinals. This is the first time since 2003 that Carolina has not advanced to the ACC semifinals.
Florida State played extremely well in doubles and won by 8-1 and 8-4 margins at No. 2 and No. 3. It marked only the fifth time UNC lost the doubles point this season. UNC is 21-1 when winning the doubles point and 2-3 when losing it. North Carolina has not allowed an opponent to score more than four team points in any of its 27 matches this season.
No. 7-ranked Raian Luchici tied the match for Carolina by defeating No. 32 Ytai Abougzir at No. 1 singles in straight sets. Less than a minute later the Seminoles went ahead by winning at No. 4 singles and when Sebastien Guejman lost his match 22 minutes later in a second set tiebreaker the Tar Heels were behind the eight ball. Aly Mandour gained a straight set win at No. 6 singles and Brad Pomeroy and Jonathas Sucupira split sets on tiebreakers almost at the same time.
Before Pomeroy and Sucupira could finish, Sam Chang of FSU finished off a three-set win over Derek Porter 6-2, 0-6, 6-4.
The No. 11 Tar Heels are hoping to earn a chance to host an NCAA regional for the second time in three years and only the second time in school history. Sixteen teams are chosen nationwide to host regional tournament May 12-14 with the winners advancing to the national final 16 at Stanford University. Bids, pairings and host sites for the 2006 NCAA Men's Tennis Championships will be announced on Wednesday, May 3 at 8:30 p.m. on ESPNews.
No. 19 FLORIDA STATE 4, No. 11 NORTH CAROLINA 2
Doubles (team winning the majority of doubles matches earns one point)
No. 1 #7 Raian Luchici / Brad Pomeroy t. #27 Ytai Abougzir / Chris Westehof, 5-5, Did Not Finish
No. 2 Jonathas Sucupira /Sam Chang (FSU) d. Lenny Gullan / David Stone (UNC) 8-1
No. 3 Maciek Sykut / Andrew Bailey (FSU) d. Sebastian Guejman / Derek Porter (UNC) 8-4
Order of finish: 2, 3, DNF
*Florida State wins doubles point
Singles
No. 1 #7 Raian Luchici (UNC) d. #32 Ytai Abougzir (FSU), 6-4, 6-3
No. 2 Brad Pomeroy (UNC) t. #105 Jonathas Sucupira (FSU), 7-6 (2), 6-7 (7), 1-1, Did Not Finish
No. 3 Sam Chang (FSU) d. Derek Porter (UNC), 6-2, 0-6, 6-4
No. 4 Maciek Sykut (FSU) d. Benjamin Carlottti (UNC), 6-2, 6-2
No. 5 Chris Westerhof (FSU) d. Sebastian Guejman (UNC), 6-0, 7-6 (6)
No. 6 Aly Mandour (UNC) d. Chris Cloer (FSU), 6-4, 6-4
Order of finish: 1, 4, 5, 6, 3, DNF
Updated Team Records: North Carolina 23-4, 8-3 ACC; Florida State, 17-10, 8-3 ACC
Players Mentioned
