University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina
Virginia (ACC Championship Semifinals)
Tar Heels Fall To Top-Ranked Virginia in ACC Semis
April 24, 2016 | Men's Tennis
CARY, N.C. – North Carolina fell to top-ranked Virginia Saturday in the Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Tennis Championship semifinals, dropping a 4-3 decision after having led 3-0. The match was delayed by rain midway through for approximately two hours and 45 minutes.
UNC, ranked third nationally, is now 25-4 and awaits the announcement of the NCAA Tournament bracket on May 3. Virginia, 24-3, advanced to play for its 10th consecutive conference crown and will face Wake Forest Sunday at 2 p.m. in the championship.
“Congratulations to Virginia,” UNC coach Sam Paul said. “They came out and played well.”
The Tar Heels opened by claiming the doubles point, beating higher-ranked duos for wins at No. 1 and No. 2. UNC's Brett Clark and Robert Kelly, ranked third nationally, won 6-2 at the top spot over second-ranked Ryan Shane and Luca Corinteli. At No. 2, Brayden Schnur and Jack Murray, ranked 31st, beat Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and Mac Styslinger, ranked No. 17.
“Doubles was definitely a huge positive,” Murray said. “We've put a lot of emphasis on that in practice.”
In singles, Schnur quickly earned a win at the No. 1 spot, beating eighth-ranked Ryan Shane 6-0, 6-4. It marked the third time this year that Schnur has beaten Shane, the defending NCAA singles champion.
That match was the only one to wrap up before the rains came around 3:50 p.m. After the sun came out and the courts were dried, play resumed at 6:30. At the time of the delay, junior Ronnie Schneider had won his first set 6-2 at No. 2 and was leading 4-2 in the second. After the restart, he quickly finished his match, beating No. 40 Collin Altamirano 6-2, 6-4 to put the Tar Heels up 3-0.
But Virginia was able to pull out the rest of the matches, with Corinteli beating freshman Anu Kodali 6-2, 7-5 on court six to give the Cavaliers their first point of the day. Courts three, four and five all went into third sets and although the Tar Heels battled, UVa was able to claim all three for the win.
“Robert Kelly fought his tail off – I'm really proud of his effort,” said Paul, who was situated at the even-numbered courts and thus saw Kelly's match at No. 4 but not the other two three-set matches. “I'm proud of the whole team – it's been a good week for us. We'll look at today and then get ready for the NCAA Tournament. Virginia was just a better team today. We're just going to go to work.
It marked the fourth year in a row that Virginia has knocked UNC out of the tournament. The Tar Heels had won this season's two previous meetings with the Cavaliers, 4-2 in the ITA National Team Indoors final on Feb. 15 and 4-3 in Chapel Hill on April 1.
Results
Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C.
No. 1 Virginia 4, No. 3 North Carolina 3
Doubles
Order of match finish: (1,2)
1. #3 Robert Kelly/Brett Clark (UNC) d. #2 Ryan Shane/Luca Corinteli (Va), 6-2
2. #32 Jack Murray/Brayden Schnur (UNC) d. #17 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski/Mac Stydlinger (Va), 6-4
3. Ronnie Schneider/Anu Kodali (UNC) vs. Collin Altamirano/J.C. Aragone (Va.), 4-5 UNF
Singles
Order of match finish: (1,2,6,4,3,5)
1. #31 Brayden Schnur (UNC) d. #8 Ryan Shane (VA), 6-0, 6-4
2. #30 Ronnie Schneider (UNC). d. #40 Collin Altamirano, 6-2, 6-4
3. #6 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (VA) d. #49 Brett Clark (UNC), 6-3, 2-6, 6-3
4. #116 J.C. Aragone (VA) d. #100 Robert Kelly (UNC), 6-3, 3-6, 7-6
5. Henrik Wiersholm (VA) d. #114 Jack Murray (UNC), 4-6, 6-2, 6-1
6. Luca Corinteli (VA) d. Anu Kodali (UNC), 6-2, 7-5
Records: North Carolina 25-4, Virginia 24-3
Players Mentioned
