University of North Carolina Athletics
Men's Tennis Opens Dual Match Season Friday
January 16, 2014 | Men's Tennis
Coach Sam Paul has high expectations for the Tar Heel men's tennis program as it prepares to play its dual match season with opening matches Friday versus East Carolina and Wofford.
UNC has five of six singles starters back and an excellent freshman class as well.
"I think we can be a very successful team in 2014," said Paul. "Our guys are eager to start the dual match season and I think we have great energy as we begin non-conference play."
Friday's matches will be the openers for Carolina, East Carolina and Wofford. UNC meets ECU at 2:30 p.m. and Wofford at 6:30 p.m. A new scoring structure will be in place for non-conference play in 2014 as well.
The Tar Heels played the 2013 season with an almost entirely rebuilt roster coming off an NCAA Sweet 16 campaign in 2012. Coach Sam Paul presented his '13 team with one of the nation's most challenging dual-match schedules. That combination did not work out as well as Carolina had hoped for. Despite playing excellent tennis at the end of the season, the Tar Heels came up one win short of qualifying for the NCAA Tournament despite winning five of their last seven matches against conference opponents.
Overall, UNC finished the campaign 12-13, while producing an ACC docket of 4-6. One more victory would have earned the Tar Heels an NCAA bid. As it was, Carolina spent the post-season at home for the first time since 1999. Sophomore Esben Hess-Olesen did earn an NCAA singles invitation for the Tar Heels.
In 2014, Carolina returns five of six starters from last year's singles lineup and has added one of the best recruiting classes in school history. The four-man group also counts as one of the best freshman classes in all of NCAA Division I in 2014.
The only regular starter lost off last year's squad is William Parker, who was one of the team's most consistent players last year while leading the Tar Heels with 25 overall singles victories and 15 dual match triumphs. The 2013 senior co-captain, who shared those duties with Taylor Meyer, will be greatly missed on the Cone-Kenfield Courts in the coming season.
"Last season was definitely a learning experience for us," said UNC head coach Sam Paul. "We came up just short at the end. Our kids were very challenged by the schedule we played last year and I expect all five of our returning starters to benefit from the adversity they faced. We never gave up last year and I think we can build on that foundation going into the 2014 season.
"We had an excellent fall, saw tremendous improvement in our returnees and began to see how good some of our newcomers have the potential to be. Having said all that, we will miss the tremendous leadership we got last year from William Parker. He was the bedrock of last year's team and his 42-22 career record in dual matches speaks for itself."
Paul, entering his 21st season as head coach at UNC and his 25th season overall with the Tar Heel coaching staff, knows that developing chemistry will be a key part to the ultimate success of the coming season's campaign.
The Tar Heels begin the season with a roster of 10 returnees and four newcomers so this literally will be a team built on a combination of youth and experience. Paul and his associate head coach Tripp Phillips will build the team around the four returning starters who all played at least 30 singles matches during the course of the 2012-13 school year.
This group includes sophomore Brett Clark of Naples, Fla., junior Esben Hess-Olesen of Viby, Denmark, junior Oystein Steiro of Snaroya, Norway and the team's lone senior, Nelson Vick of Grafton, Wis.
The other returning letter winners include red-shirt junior James Coxe of Raleigh, N.C., sophomore Connor Daly of Thousand Oaks, Calif., sophomore Stuart DePaolo of Asheville N.C., red-shirt sophomore Andrew Gores of Charlotte, N.C., sophomore Chad Hoskins of Winston-Salem, N.C., and senior Maik Ulrich of Dresden, Germany. Of that group, DePaolo, Gores and Ulrich all shared time as the sixth singles player in the lineup along with departed senior Taylor Meyer, who was 3-5 in dual matches last season.
Brett Clark split his time at #2 and #3 in the singles lineup as a freshman in 2013. He finished 20-12 overall in singles, including a 14-8 record in dual matches and a 21-10 overall doubles ledger. He was named to the 2013 All-ACC Academic Team in men's tennis. This past fall he qualified for the U.S. Indoor National Championships in New York City.
Esben Hess-Olesen was Carolina's No. 1 singles player last year, going 22-12 overall and 11-7 in dual matches. He missed several matches due to illness at mid-season and predictably, those matches coincided with a long Tar Heel losing streak. Hess-Olesen earned All-ACC honors a year ago and earned an NCAA singles invitation.
Oystein Steiro split time at No. 4 and No. 5 singles in his sophomore campaign. He went 19-13 in singles overall and was 14-10 in dual matches. Vick played all over the Tar Heel lineup, splitting time at the top three spots in dual matches. Now a senior co-captain (sharing duties with junior Hess-Olesen), Vick is expected to be one of Carolina's most improved players after going 18-17 in singles and 18-16 in doubles last year. DePaolo, Gores and Ulrich all earned experience in dual match play in 2013, going 4-4, 0-3 and 5-3, respectively in their opportunities to play in the lineup.
Carolina's talented freshman class includes at least three players who will be in the mix for starting spots while freshman Jack Murray plans on red-shirting in 2014. The freshmen who will challenge for starting spots with the excellent returning cast are Ronnie Schneider of Bloomington, Ind., Brayden Schnur of Pickering, Ontario and Johan Skattum of Oslo, Norway.
"Certainly, we will have our challenges but I think we are in a good position to handle them," said Coach Paul as the Tar Heels prepare for the 2014 campaign. "We will have a very demanding schedule. But in the long run, I think playing a good non-conference schedule always helps us. I think we have a chance to be successful. A lot will depend on the chemistry we develop over the next couple of months and on staying healthy. I know our guys are ready for those challenges. They've done a great job academically. That relates to discipline and hard work. That's the fundamental basis of being a good team. This has been a fun group to be around this fall. I know that Tripp (Phillips) and I have enjoyed coaching this team. Our veterans have been focused and it's always exciting to help new kids in your program to improve and mature as both tennis players and student-athletes."
Players Mentioned
