North Carolina
Duke
North Carolina Falls From The Ranks Of The Unbeaten
April 11, 2007 | Men's Tennis
April 11, 2007
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - North Carolina's men's tennis team suffered its first loss of the 2007 season Wednesday afternoon before an overflow crowd of over 500 fans at the indoor courts of the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center as Duke prevailed 5-2. UNC dropped to 20-1 overall and 8-1 in the ACC while Duke is 14-7 and 7-2 in the ACC.
UNC lost the doubles point for the first time this season and was unable to recover from that despite winning the first set in three of the six singles matches. The match momentum turned on a pair of first set tiebreaker victories by Duke at No. 5 and No. 6 singles. Had the Tar Heels prevailed in those tiebreakers Carolina would have been in a position where they would have won the first set in five of six singles.
Wednesday's match was worth one point in the annual Carlyle Cup all-sports competition between Duke and North Carolina. The standings are currently led by Duke 9.5 points to 8.5 points. The Cup race has been won by UNC each of the past two years and in three of the six years since the Cup's creation in 2000-01. Carolina needs 13.5 points to win the Cup outright and 13 to tie and thus retain the Cup for another year. Points are still to be determined in women's tennis, baseball, men's golf, women's golf, men's track, women's track, women's lacrosse and rowing.
Duke swept the doubles point, winning all three close matches, including a tiebreaker at No. 3.
That loss in doubles put the Tar Heels behind the eight ball especially facing a lineup where Duke's top three players are all ranked higher than the Tar Heel players at those positions.
Duke went up 3-0 with a win by No. 115 Peter Rodrigues at No. 3 over Chris Kearney followed by a victory by David Goulet at No. 5 over the only senior on the Tar Heel team, Sebastian Guejman.
UNC rallied with the next two wins as Stefan Hardy, a freshman from California, upset No. 69 Joey Atas of Duke 7-5, 7-6 (7-4) in the breaker. UNC's Taylor Fogleman beat Dylan Arnould by a 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 score at No. 4. Fogleman led 5-1 in the second set only to see Arnould win the next two games. Fogleman and Arnould were tied 30 all in the ninth game when Fogleman one the point and Arnould then lost the match on a penalty point for hitting the ball into the far wall of the tennis complex.
Duke clinched on a win by Alex Stone at No. 6. The final match saw Kiril Dimitrov beat UNC's Benjamin Carlotti in a match tiebreaker which was played in lieu of a third set.
The Heels have a quick turnaround time with matches at Virginia Tech Friday and then at No. 2 ranked Virginia on Sunday.
No. 16 Duke 5, No. 5 North Carolina 2
Singles
No. 2 Stefan Hardy (UNC) d. #69 Joey Atas (DU), 7-5, 7-6 (7-4)
No. 3 #115 Peter Rodrigues (DU) d. #121 Chris Kearney (UNC), 6-4, 6-0
No. 4 Taylor Fogleman (UNC) d. Dylan Arnould (DU), 7-6 (7-3), 6-3
No. 5 David Goulet (DU) d. Sebastian Guejman (UNC), 7-6 (7-1), 6-1
No. 6 Alex Stone (DU) d. Will Plyler (UNC), 7-6 (7-2), 6-3
Order of Finish: #3, #5, #2, #4, #6, #1
Doubles
No. 1 #5 Joey Atas/David Goulet (DU) d. #48 Lenny Gullan/David Stone (UNC), 8-5
No. 2 Ned Samuleson/Dylan Arnould (DU) d. Stefan Hardy/Sebastian Guejman (UNC), 8-6
No. 3 Peter Rodrgues/Kiril Dimitrov (DU) d. Taylor Fogleman/Chris Kearney (UNC), 9-8 (7-3)
Order of Finish: #2, #1, #3
Records: North Carolina 20-1, ACC 8-1; Duke 14-7, ACC 7-2
Players Mentioned
