University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
ITA Carolinas Regional
Schnur To Play For Carolinas Regional Title
October 20, 2014 | Men's Tennis
CARY, N.C. - Top seed Brayden Schnur beat Duke's Raphael Hemmeller 6-4, 6-4 Sunday morning to earn a spot in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association Carolinas' Region singles final on Monday. Schnur is the third straight UNC player and fourth overall Tar Heel player in the last five years to represent UNC in the singles championship match. He joins Brett Clark ('13), Esben-Hess Olesen ('12) and Jose Hernandez ('10) as past UNC region singles finalists.
Schnur will face Duke's Jason Tahir, ranked 27th in the ITA pre-season poll, at 1 p.m. Monday at the Cary Tennis Center.
Three Tar Heel doubles teams remained at the outset of Sunday's Quarterfinal play, but only Clark and Schnur were able to reach the semifinals. Clark and Schnur and Duke's Cale Hammond/Jason Tahir played a tense match on even terms until a tiebreaker was required at 7-7. The Carolina duo won the tiebreaker 7-4 and next faced Clemson's third-seeded Augosto/Harrington in one semifinal.
After Schnur served out the first set with an ace (6-4), the teams exchanged service breaks to begin the 2nd set. Schnur then fought off three break points to put UNC up 2-1. UNC maintained the lead throughout the 2nd, earning a few chances to win the match during close games at 5-4 and 6-5, but never could find the decisive service break. In the match tiebreaker, played in lieu of the 3rd set to decide the match, Clemson took early leads of 4-2 and 6-3. UNC fought back to 6-5 after a Schnur ace. However, Clemson was able to close out the match 10-7 on their 2nd match point.
The Carolinas Region singles and doubles champions earn automatic berths to the ITA National Indoors, Nov. 6-9, played at the site of the U.S. Open in Flushing Meadow, N.Y.
Sunday Results
Doubles Quarterfinal:
Brett Clark/Brayden Schnur [#8] (UNC) d. Cale Hammond/Jason Tahir (Duke) 8-7(4)
Augusto/Harrington [#24] (Clemson) d. Robert Kelly/Oystein Steiro (UNC) 8-4
Nicolas Alvarez/Raphael Hemmeler (Duke) d. Esben Hess-Olesen/Maik Ulrich (UNC) 8-2
Doubles Semifinal
Alejandro Augusto/Hunter Harrington [#24] (Clemson) d. Clark/Schnur [#8] (UNC) 4-6, 7-6(3), 1-0(7)
Singles Semifinal
Brayden Schnur [#7] (UNC) d. Raphael Hemmeler (Duke) 6-4, 6-4
