University of North Carolina Athletics
Schneider Named MVP of ITA National Indoor Championship
February 18, 2016 | Men's Tennis
Tar Heel men's tennis player Ronnie Schneider has been named MVP of the ITA National Indoor Team Championship, as announced Thursday by the ITA. The junior business major from Bloomington, Ind., helped lead UNC to its first national championship on Monday in Charlottesville, Va. UNC's Jack Murray, a junior economics major from Beverly Hills, Mich., joined Schneider on the 2016 ITA All-Tournament Team.
The squad, which includes one player at each singles spot and three doubles teams, was selected by a panel of the 16 participating head coaches from last weekend's event.
Schneider, ranked No. 23 in the nation in singles, was 4-0 at the No. 2 spot as the Tar Heels beat No. 14 Texas Tech, No. 8 Ohio State, No. 9 UCLA and No. 1 Virginia. He secured the clinching point in the team's 4-2 semifinal victory over UCLA, and his come-from-behind, three-set win over second-ranked Thai-Son Kwiatkowski of Virginia in the tournament final moved UNC within a point of clinching its first championship. The Tar Heels did just that moments later, as Murray won at No. 4 singles to secure the 4-2 victory.
Murray's win in the championship came 6-4, 0-6, 7-5 over No. 78 Mac Styslinger of Virginia. He also beat No. 18 Herkko Pollanen of Ohio State in the quarterfinals. His other two matches were unfinished because the Tar Heels had already claimed the team victory.
This is the ninth annual ITA National Men's Team Indoor All-Tournament Team and the first time that a Tar Heel has been selected as MVP. Murray and Schneider were joined on the All-Tournament team by UCLA's Mackenzie McDonald at No. 1, Virginia's Collin Altamirano at No. 3, Virginia's J.C. Aragone at No. 5 and Ohio State's Martin Joyce at No. 6. UCLA took the No. 1 doubles honor while Virginia claimed No. 2 and No. 3.
Next up for the Tar Heels is a home match on Sunday at 1 p.m. against Wofford. There is no charge for admission to Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.
Players Mentioned
