Tar Heels Advance With 4-0 Win Over Georgia Tech

Friday, April 22

Durham, N.C.

5:30 PM

North Carolina

Georgia Tech (ACC Championship Quarterfinals)

April 23, 2016 | Men's Tennis

By: UNC Athletic Communications

DURHAM, N.C. – The match was moved and delayed, but eventually the UNC men's tennis team got the result it was looking for, beating No. 30 Georgia Tech 4-0 in an Atlantic Coast Conference Championship quarterfinal matchup Friday evening. The third-ranked, fourth-seeded Tar Heels now advance to a semifinals meeting with No. 1 Virginia on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Cary Tennis Park. The match will be broadcast by ESPN3.

The battle will be the third of the season between UNC and UVa. The Tar Heels have won the first two, in the championship of the ITA Indoor Team Nationals in Charlottesville in February and in Chapel Hill in April. Saturday's matchup will be the first of the season on a neutral court.

UNC and Georgia Tech faced off a week after their regular season matchup, a 4-3 Carolina win on April 15 in the Tar Heels' final home match. In that one, UNC dropped the doubles point and four of six first sets before fighting back for the win. Friday, the Tar Heels made sure the victory wouldn't hang in the balance for quite so long by claiming the doubles point. They had to fight for it, though – after winning at No. 1 and falling at No. 2, the result came down to court three, where junior Ronnie Schneider and freshman Anu Kodali fought to a 7-5 in a tiebreaker against the same duo, Nathan Rakitt and Andrew Li, that had beaten them a week earlier. “I thought we came out and played well,” Schneider said. “I thought we could have won a lot easier, we had the chances, but I was happy with how we played, losing to those guys last time.”

Senior Brett Clark followed his doubles win with a quick one in singles, 6-2, 6-2 over Cole Fiegel. Junior Jack Murray won 6-4, 6-1 at No. 5 to put UNC on the verge of victory. On adjacent courts, sophomore Robert Kelly at No. 4 and Kodali at No. 6 both were close to victory, but it was Kelly who got there first, beating Daniel Yun 7-5, 6-4 to halt the rest of the matches and give the Tar Heels a 4-0 win.

“Doubles was big for us today and then I thought we kept the moment going,” UNC coach Sam Paul said. “It's good to move on.”

Both of the men's tennis semifinals are set for 2 p.m. In the other side of the bracket, second-seeded Wake Forest will play sixth-seeded Virginia Tech, which beat No. 3 FSU on Friday.

April 22, 2016

Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center in Durham, N.C.

No. 3 North Carolina 4, No. 30 Georgia Tech 0

Doubles

Order of match finish: (1,2,3)

1. #3 Robert Kelly/Brett Clark (UNC) d. #33 Casey Kay/Michael Kay (GT), 6-4

2. Christopher Eubanks/Carlos Benito (GT) d. #32 Jack Murray/Brayden Schnur (UNC), 6-4

3. Ronnie Schneider/Anu Kodali (UNC) d. Nathan Rakitt/Andrew Li (GT), 7-6 (7-5)

Singles

Order of match finish: (3,5,4)

1. #31 Brayden Schnur (UNC) vs. #7 Christopher Eubanks (GT), 3-6, 6-3, 2-4 UNF

2. #30 Ronnie Schneider (UNC). d. #112 Carlos Benito (GT), 6-4, 4-5 UNF