North Carolina
North Carolina State
Tar Heels Down North Carolina State 5-2
March 18, 2012 | Men's Tennis
March 18, 2012
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - No. 32 North Carolina held off the North Carolina State Wolfpack 5-2 Sunday afternoon at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in men's tennis action. The Tar Heels pushed their current winning streak to three match to improve to 6-4 on the season and preserve an undefeated 3-0 mark in ACC play. Meanwhile, the Wolfpack fell short in its bid for its first ACC win of the year, dropping to 14-4 (0-2) on the season.
Carolina headed into the match coming off a 6-1 win over Wake Forest on Friday while State dropped a home match Friday to Duke 4-3.
"I'm really proud of my team," said Coach Sam Paul. "It's a great win for us against a really good N.C. State team."
Carolina started the match in fine form, as the tandem of Brennan Boyajian and Oystein Steiro knocked off Sullivan/Weber (8-5) at No. 1 doubles. Joey Burkhardt and Jose Hernandez quickly followed suit at No. 2 doubles (8-3), dismissing Hodgson/Thomsen of the Wolfpack. Cameron Ahari and Esben Hess-Olesen then dropped their No. 3 doubles match (8-3) to Mudge/Pulgar with the doubles point already in hand for Carolina.
"We started out a little tentative again in doubles, but we picked it up," Paul said. "We certainly can play better in doubles, but we'll work on that this week in practice."
In singles play, Joey Burkhardt took care of business first for the Tar Heels, beating Austin Powell (6-2, 6-1) at No. 4 singles. However, N.C. State's Julian Sullivan promptly responded, knocking off Oystein Steiro (7-5, 6-3) at No. 6 singles.
William Parker then rolled past Rafael Perez at No. 5 singles (6-3, 6-4) right before Esben Hess-Olesen sealed the match for Carolina at No. 3 singles. Despite falling behind early in the second set, Hess-Olesen roared back to take the match 6-4, 6-3.
The Wolfpack clawed back to take a win at No. 1 singles, as #66 Jamie Puglar bested Hernandez (7-6, 6-3).
Then, even with the team match in hand, Brennan Boyajian finished strong. Despite dropping the first set in a 7-5 tiebreak, the Weston, Florida native battled back to take the second set and the third-set tiebreak by a final match score of 6-7, 6-1, 1-0 (10-6).
Carolina continues ACC play next Friday at 3:00 PM at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center, as the Tar Heels host Virginia Tech in the third match of the current six match home-stand. Admission is free and open to the public.
No. 32 North Carolina 5, No. 28 North Carolina State 2
Doubles 1. #44 Boyajian/Steiro (UNC) d. Sullivan/Weber (NCSU) 8-5 2. #73 Burkhardt/Hernandez (UNC) d. Hodgson/Thomsen (NCSU), 8-3 3. Mudge/Puglar (NCSU) d. Ahari/Hess-Olesen (UNC), 8-3 Order of finish: 1, 2, 3Singles
1. #66 Jamie Puglar (NCSU) d. #34 Jose Hernandez (UNC), 7-6, 6-3 2. #90 Brennan Boyajian (UNC) d. Dominic Hodgson (NCSU), 6-7, 6-1, 1-0 (6) 3. #98 Esben Hess-Olesen (UNC) d. Robbie Mudge (NCSU), 6-4, 6-3 4. Joey Burkhardt (UNC) d. Austin Powell (NCSU), 6-2, 6-1 5. William Parker (UNC) d. Rafael Perez (NCSU), 6-3, 6-4 6. Julian Sullivan (NCSU) d. Oystein Steiro (UNC), 7-5, 6-3 Order of finish: 4, 6, 5, 3, 1, 2
Players Mentioned
