North Carolina
Wake Forest
#18 Heels Fall in Quarterfinal Heartbreaker to #23 Demon Deacons
April 23, 2010 | Men's Tennis
April 23, 2010
CARY, N.C.- The 23rd-ranked Wake Forest Demon Deacons came out on top, 4-3, in a very close contest with the #18 North Carolina Tar Heels in the ACC tournament quarterfinals Friday afternoon.
With the loss, North Carolina drops to 17-6 and 7-4 in the ACC. Wake Forest moves to 14-8 (8-4) and will face Duke tomorrow in the second semifinal at the Cary Tennis Center at 1 p.m.
The match started dramatically as the Heels broke serve at No. 2 doubles to clinch that match and the overall doubles point. After #20 Clay Donato and Stefan Hardy lost 8-6 against fellow heavyweights #19 Iain Atkinson and Steve Forman, inspired play at the second and third flight sealed it for North Carolina. Jose Hernandez and Andrew Crone cruised at No. 3, defeating Tripper Carleton and Zach Leslie 8-3. At No. 2, Brennan Boyajian and Cameron Ahari broke Danny Kreyman's serve at 7-6 to seal it for North Carolina.
Wake Forest came out firing on all cylinders in singles play, winning at the No. 3, No. 4 and No. 1 flights to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the match. Fifty-sixth ranked Hernandez earned his all-ACC selection by coming back from one set down to upset #38 Tripper Carleton 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Almost simultaneously, Andrew Crone defeated Zach Leslie 6-3, 7-6(5) at the No. 6 flight to bring the Heels and Deacons level once again.
The match came down to the No. 5 singles flight, where Cameron Ahari was making a rare appearance for the Heels. After dropping the first set 7-5, Ahari roared back to take the second 6-4. In the third and final set, he and opponent Danny Kreyman exchanged games until they found themselves in a tiebreaker that would decide the overall match. Kreyman defeated Ahari in the breaker, 7-2, to move the Deacons into the semifinals.
After the match, North Carolina head coach Sam Paul said his Heels would need to get smarter before the NCAA tournament begins.
"We need to have more discipline, clean up our games and be smarter, the same things we've talked about all year," Paul said. "When these close matches are only decided by a few points, we've got to win those to be successful."
#23 WFU 4, #18 UNC 3
Records: UNC 17-5 (7-3), WFU 13-8 (7-4)
Doubles:
1. #19 Steve Forman and Iain Atkinson (WFU) d. #20 Clay Donato and Stefan Hardy (UNC) 8-6
2. Cameron Ahari and Brennan Boyajian (UNC) d. Danny Kreyman and Jon Wolff (WFU) 8-6
3. Andrew Crone and Jose Hernandez (UNC) d. Tripper Carleton and Zach Leslie (WFU) 8-3
Singles
1. #27 Steven Forman (WFU) d. #41 Clay Donato (UNC) 4-6, 6-1, 7-5
2. #56 Jose Hernandez (UNC) d. #38 Tripper Carleton (WFU) 3-6, 6-3, 6-2
3. #106 Iain Atkinson (WFU) d. #116 Stefan Hardy (UNC) 6-1, 7-6(7)
4. Jon Wolff (WFU) d. #85 Brennan Boyajian (UNC) 6-2, 7-6(5)
5. Danny Kreyman (WFU) d. Cameron Ahari (UNC) 7-5, 4-6, 7-6(2)
6. Andrew Crone (UNC) d. Zach Leslie (WFU) 6-3, 7-6(5)
Order of Finish:
Doubles: 1, 3, 2*
Singles: 3, 4, 1, 6, 2, 5*
Players Mentioned
