University of North Carolina Athletics
No. 19 Tar Heels Top No. 10 Blue Devils 4-3
April 13, 2011 | Men's Tennis
April 13, 2011
CHAPEL HILL - The No. 19 North Carolina Tar Heels picked up a huge rivalry win against the No. 10 Duke Blue Devils Wednesday afternoon, winning a tight 4-3 affair.
It took two late three-setters to first pull the Heels even then give them the victory, but North Carolina improves to 12-6 (7-2) on the season while Duke drops to 16-8 and 7-2 in the ACC.
The Tar Heels got off to a hot start in doubles, where Paul decided to shuffle the lineups. Joey Burkhardt and Stefan Hardy were moved to the first flight after three straight wins at No. 2, while the other two pairings competed together in ACC play for the first time.
Burkhardt and Hardy were defeated by Duke's No. 7 pairing of Henrique Cunha and Reid Carleton, but wins in the lower two flights meant the Tar Heels drew first blood. Jose Hernandez and Zach Hunter won 8-3 at No. 3 before Brennan Boyajian and Cameron Ahari clinched the point with an 8-5 win at No. 2.
In singles, Boyajian helped the Tar Heels to a 2-0 lead, executing his patient game plan to perfection in a 6-1, 6-1 dismantling of Reid Carleton at No. 2. Carleton entered the match having beat 17 ranked players this season and is currently ranked No. 9 by the ITA, making the highest-ranked defeat of Boyajian's career.
Duke came back to take the lead through two-set victories at No. 6, 4 and 3 singles. The match would be decided on courts five, where William Parker split sets with Torsten Wietoska, and on court one, where a top 25 matchup was living up to its billing.
Coming back from 2-0 down in the third, Parker broke serve to go up 4-3 and held on to win, 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 and tie the overall match at 3-all. The sophomore moved to 13-4 on the season and 7-2 in the ACC.
With the teams on court two cheering their respective number ones. Hernandez, ranked No. 25, was on serve with No. 6 Cunha through two. Cunha and Hernandez both fought off multiple break points in their third service games. On serve at 5-4, the two battled through multiples deuces before Cunha shot long to give Hernandez and the Heels the victory.
With the victory the Heels get one point in the Battle of the Blues, sponsored by Continental Tire. North Carolina currently leads the competition 11-9.
Singles:
1. #25 Jose Hernandez (UNC) d. #6 Henrique Cunha (DU) 7-5, 2-6, 6-4
2. Brennan Boyajian (UNC) d. #9 Reid Carleton (DU) 6-1, 6-1
3. Chris Mengel (DU) d. Stefan Hardy (UNC) 7-5, 6-2
4. Fred Saba (DU) d. #90 Joey Burkhardt (UNC) 6-1, 6-4
5. William Parker (UNC) d. Torsten Wietoska (DU) 6-2, 3-6, 6-4
6. Luke Marchese (DU) d. Alex Rafiee (UNC) 6-0-, 6-2
Doubles:
1. #7 Reid Carleton and Henrique Cunha (DU) d. Joey Burkhardt and Stefan Hardy (UNC) 8-3
2. Brennan Boyajian and Cameron Ahari (UNC) d. David Holland and Chris Mengel (DU) 8-5
3. Jose Hernandez and Zach Hunter (UNC) d. Cale Hammond and Torsten Wietoska (DU) 8-3
Order of Finish:
Singles: 2, 6, 4, 3, 5, 1*
Doubles: 1, 3, 2*
Players Mentioned
