University of North Carolina Athletics
Best Games Of 2014-15: No. 8
July 8, 2015 | Men's Tennis
Once again this July, GoHeels.com will count down the top 25 wins of the school year. Check back around noon EDT each weekday for the latest update before the No. 1 win is revealed on July 17. To catch up on previous entries, click here.
No. 8: No. 13 Carolina 4, No. 3 Illinois 3 (NCAA Round of 16) - Men's Tennis, May 14, 2015
Sam Paul's 2014 squad beat host Georgia in the NCAA round of 16 to advance to the national quarterfinals for the first time in more than two decades. The Tar Heels returned the bulk of their roster in 2015 and were after a second straight trip to the quarters when 13th-seeded UNC met No. 4 seed Illinois in Waco, Texas, in May.
Carolina dropped just one match in wins over William & Mary and Mississippi State in the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional before making the trip to Baylor to face the Illini. Illinois entered the match at 27-4 after sweeping the Big Ten regular season and tournament titles and dropping Green Bay and Drake in the opening rounds.
The final site showdown was a rematch of an epic early-season dual in Urbana, Illinois, that saw the Illini drop the doubles point but win four times in singles to best UNC. The January meeting featured five 3-setters, and the hosts were victorious in three of the five, including a third-set tiebreak win at No. 1 singles by Farris Gosea over Brayden Schnur. Those two would play a big role in the rematch as well.
Just as in the first meeting, Carolina took the doubles point with relative ease. The Tar Heels were 8-5 winners on court one before Ronnie Schneider and Jack Murray finished an 8-4 win on court three.
The presence of Schneider proved to be a critical difference from the first meeting, as the talented sophomore was unable to play in January due to an injury. That, coupled with the recent return of Esben Hess-Olesen to the singles lineup, put Carolina in great shape to score the upset.
And it was Hess-Olesen who secured the first singles point for the Tar Heels, winning in straight sets to give Carolina a 2-1 lead. Despite winning five of six opening sets, however, UNC would soon find itself in a 3-2 hole after Illini wins on courts three and four.
That left it to the duo of Schnur and Schneider on the top two courts, and the second-year stars did not disappoint. Both men took the opening set with matching 7-5 tiebreak wins before dropping the second set. Schnur avenged his loss from January by taking the deciding set 6-2, while Schneider served out a 6-3 win moments later to put the Tar Heels back in the NCAA quarterfinals.
"We are starting to get healthy again, and if you look at our senior, Esben [Hess-Olesen], it is his second singles match since February," Paul said after the match. "[We] put him back in and he is playing singles and he won a huge match for us in regionals. Again he got off quick and was able to give us some momentum. We have been in some tough spots all year long, but our kids fight. We are sort of used to this, so it was a great win.”
The Tar Heels would fall to fifth-seeded TCU in the quarters, but another memorable tournament run has Paul's program poised to take another step forward in 2016.
Previous Entries
No. 9: Carolina 2, Clemson 1 (NCAA Round of 16): Men's Soccer, Nov. 30, 2014
No. 10: LeHardy Leads Carolina To ACC Title - Women's Cross Country, Oct. 31, 2014
No. 11: No. 6 Carolina 96, No. 18 Rutgers 93 (2 OT) - Women's Basketball, Dec. 4, 2014
No. 12: No. 8 Carolina 3, No. 3 Florida State 1 - Volleyball, Nov. 14, 2014
No. 13: No. 1 Carolina 2, No. 2 Connecticut 1 - Field Hockey, Sept. 28, 2014
No. 14: Carolina 7, No. 24 Notre Dame 3 (8 inn.) - Softball, April 26, 2015
No. 15: No. 17 Carolina 5, No. 21 Georgia Tech 3 - Baseball, March 20, 2015
No. 16: No. 9 Carolina 3, No. 18 Notre Dame 2 (2 OT) - Women's Soccer, Sept. 20, 2014
No. 17: No. 19 Carolina 71, No. 3 Virginia 67 (ACC Tournament) - Men's Basketball, March 14, 2015
No. 18: No. 16 Carolina 4, No. 9 Duke 3 (ACC Championship) - Men's Tennis, April 24, 2015
No. 19: No. 4 Carolina 17, No. 2 Syracuse 15 - Men's Lacrosse, April 11, 2015
No. 20: No. 2 Carolina 4, No. 12 Virginia 3 - Women's Tennis, April 10, 2015
No. 21: No. 14 Carolina 1, No. 7 Penn State 0 (2 OT) - Women's Soccer, Sept. 9, 2014
No. 22: No. 2 Carolina 12, No. 3 Duke 6 - Women's Lacrosse, April 17, 2015
No. 23: Carolina 15, No. 9 Georgia 9 - Softball, April 2, 2015
No. 24: Carolina 17, No. 12 Virginia 16 - Wrestling, Feb. 7, 2015
No. 25: Tar Heels Sweep Virginia in Charlottesville - Swimming and Diving, Jan. 24, 2015
