University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Auburn
UNC Scores Comeback Win Against Auburn
March 1, 2009 | Men's Tennis
March 1, 2009
AUBURN, Ala. - North Carolina scored a comeback win against Auburn on Sunday afternoon in a showdown of two top-30 teams.
The 22nd-ranked Tar Heels overcame a 2-0 deficit to beat the 28th-ranked Tigers 4-3.
"For the young guys, this win was a big confidence builder," said junior Clay Donato. "They can see that all their hard work is starting to pay off, and that we can win these close, big matches."
Carolina stumbled out of the gate, dropping all three doubles matches as they adjusted to the quickness of Auburn's indoor court surface. With a one-point advantage, the Tigers widened the gap with a 6-1, 6-3 victory at No. 6 singles.
Junior Andrew Crone and freshman Brennan Boyajian were quick to the rescue for UNC. The pair recorded the only two straight-sets singles wins of the day, as Crone notched Carolina's first team point with a 7-5, 6-4 victory and Boyajian followed with a 6-3, 6-4 decision that evened the match score at 2-2. Auburn struck right back, though, as Alex Stamchev recovered from a dropped second set to put the Tigers one point away from winning the match.
All eyes then turned to No. 1 and 2 singles, as four top-60 singles players battled for the final two team points. Both Donato and senior team captain Taylor Fogleman dropped their first sets, but came back to win their second sets to even the matches.
Fogleman reached a 6-6 third set tie against Tim Puetz shortly after Donato held serve to take a 5-4 set lead. The senior from Louisiana then cruised to a 7-3 tiebreaker win to even the team match at three points apiece. Meanwhile, Donato had fallen behind 30-40 in the tenth game of his third set, on the verge of being tied 5-5 with Tsyrenov. Three points later, the Canadian broke Auburn's top player to pull out the win for the Tar Heels.
"To win away at a good SEC team's place, especially after losing the doubles point, is extremely gratifying," said Fogleman.
Carolina will take the momentum gained from the win on the road yet again when they face neighboring rival North Carolina State on Wednesday, March 4. The match against the 40th-ranked Wolfpack will be played at 2:00 p.m. in Raleigh, N.C.
#22 UNC 4, #28 Auburn 3
Records: UNC 9-2, Auburn 5-2
Doubles
1. Alexey Tsyrenov and Tim Puetz [#15] (Auburn) d. Clay Donato and Taylor Fogleman [#11] (UNC) 8-4
2. Lukas Marsoun and Alex Stamchev [#50] (Auburn) d. Andrew Crone and Zach Hunter (UNC) 8-7(4)
3. Milan Krnjetin and Alex Petropoulos (Auburn) d. Brennan Boyajian and Alex Rafiee (UNC) 8-4
Order of finish: 3, 1, 2
Singles
1. Clay Donato [#27] (UNC) d. Alexey Tsyrenov [#41] (Auburn) 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
2. Taylor Fogleman [#42] (UNC) d. Tim Puetz [#56] (Auburn) 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(3)
3. Andrew Crone (UNC) d. Milan Krnjetin (Auburn) 7-5, 6-4
4. Brennan Boyajian (UNC) d. Lukas Marsoun (Auburn) 6-3, 6-4
5. Alex Stamchev (Auburn) d. Luke Mojica (UNC) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
6. Alex Petropoulos (Auburn) d. Alex Rafiee (UNC) 6-1, 6-3
Order of finish: 6, 3, 4, 5, 2, 1
Players Mentioned
