University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Ohio State
UNC Takes Second Loss at Ohio State
February 11, 2008 | Men's Tennis
Feb. 10, 2008
COLUMBUS, Ohio - 3rd-ranked Ohio State dealt the 15th-ranked Tar Heels their second straight loss Sunday afternoon at the Ohio State University Varsity Tennis Center.
It was a day of streaks for both the Tar Heels and the Buckeyes. For Ohio State, the win was their 64th straight win at home dating back to 2003, while for UNC, the loss was their second straight and kept them winless all-time against the Buckeyes.
The match began with a close competition for the doubles point. The nationally third-ranked team of junior Taylor Fogleman and sophomore Chris Kearney took on the nation's nineteenth-ranked duo of OSU's Matt Allare and Mike O'Connell in a contest that took Allare and O'Connell an extra game to win at the score of 9-7. Seniors David Stone and Lenny Gullan then fell to Bryan Koniecko and Steven Moneke 4-8, which delivered the doubles team point to Ohio State heading into singles. While sophomores Clay Donato and Stefan Hardy were still within reach of a victory at the game score of 7-8, since the team point was decided, a tiebreaker was played in lieu of the final game, which the Buckeyes' Justin Kronauge and Drew Eberly won.
The Tar Heels then quickly tied the team match as Kearney led off singles play with a straight sets victory over Allare. However, two consecutive losses by Hardy and senior Benjamin Carlotti put the team point total at 3-1 in OSU's favor. An impressive win over nationally 95th-ranked Drew Eberly by senior Will Plyler briefly raised the Tar Heels' hopes, but a final loss in a back-and-forth match by Fogleman sealed the victory for the Buckeyes. Donato was even with the nation's 85th ranked player, Koniecko, at the time of Fogleman's loss, but since the team match was decided, Donato's match was called with the score at 6-4, 3-6, 1-1.
Up next for North Carolina is the ITA Team Indoors in Seattle, Washington. The matches will begin on Friday, February 15th, but as for now, the specific schedules are to be announced.
#3 Ohio State 4, #15 North Carolina 2
Records: UNC 4-2, Ohio State 8-0
Doubles
#1 Allare/Mike O'Connell (OSU) [#19] d. Fogleman/Kearney (UNC) [#3] 9-7
#2 Koniecko/Moneke (OSU) d. David Stone/Lenny Gullan (UNC) 8-4
#3 Kronauge/Eberly (OSU) d. Donato/Hardy (UNC) 8-7
Order of Finish: #1, #2, #3
Singles
#1 Justin Kronauge (OSU) [#6] d. Stefan Hardy (UNC) 6-2, 6-0
#2 Steven Moneke (OSU) [#60] d. Benjamin Carlotti (UNC) 6-3, 6-1
#3 Bryan Koniecko (OSU) [#85] vs. Clay Donato (UNC) 4-6, 6-3, 1-1
#4 Chris Kearney (UNC) d. Matt Allare (OSU) 6-1, 6-4
#5 Shuhei Uzawa (OSU) d. Taylor Fogleman (UNC) 6-1, 1-6, 6-0
#6 Will Plyler (UNC) d. Drew Eberly (OSU) [#95] 6-1, 6-1
Order of Finish: #4, #1, #2, #6, #5, #3*
Players Mentioned
