University of North Carolina Athletics
Hanging On
May 16, 2016 | Men's Tennis
By Alex Zietlow
“It's a sad moment obviously, thinking back to everything that I've done over the last four years here,” senior Brett Clark said following the Tar Heel men's tennis team's second round win in the NCAA tournament. “But it's definitely a great feeling that I did it with this team. I love all these guys. We fight for each other like no team I've ever seen before.”
Sunday marked the last time this Tar Heel team played on its home court. In a sense, it was the seniors' second 'Senior Day,' only the stakes were higher. The Tar Heels went to battle to not only continue their season, and not only to extend the Carolina seniors' careers by at least one more match; they fought, and will continue to keep fighting, to keep this special group together for as long as possible.
“Everybody is doing everything they can to make [the season] memorable,” freshman Anu Kodali said. “Not just for Brett, but for everybody…We think this is the best team in Carolina tennis history, so we're just trying to make it count.”
Saturday, Carolina defeated College of Charleston 4-0 in what was an efficient performance by the Tar Heels. Before that NCAA opening-round match, Carolina had not played in three weeks, since the ACC tournament semi-finals loss to top-ranked Virginia. Sunday, the Heels came out firing, defeating the Tulane Green Wave 4-0 behind solid performances across the board. With the win, the Tar Heels head to Tulsa, Oklahoma for the Sweet Sixteen and beyond.
Both Clark and head coach Sam Paul say this is a special team. For much of the last two and three seasons, the core of the team has remained the same, with a few recent additions. The same guys have been playing and growing together. The same guys have made it to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen three years running. The same guys won an ITA national championship this year. And the same guys are not done.
But just like any story, the end is consistently and inevitably approaching. And often a story's impact and significance is judged on its ending.
The men's basketball season exemplifies this point. The seniors of that team, who were some of Roy Williams' favorite players of all time to coach, were one game, four seconds and one shot away from sharing a completely different story. And, instead of having the campus newspaper headline celebrate their final chapter in their historic, fantastic season, the final chapter was told as one of heartbreak – as one that hurt. The end of the story is what people remember, at least in the immediate aftermath.
Former president Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on.” It was what senior Marcus Paige attempted to do when he hit a double-clutched three-pointer to tie the game with 4.7 seconds left to go in the national championship game. It was what senior Brett Clark did when he hit the backhand, topspin lob to clinch the Heels' winning point in the second round of the NCAA tournament Sunday. It is what each team tries to do at this point in the season: hang on. With two sweeps in the first two rounds, the men's tennis team is not at the end of their figurative rope, really, but their considerable talent combined with the drive, the will to keep playing, keeps them hanging on.
The Tar Heels face Mississippi State Friday, May 20th, in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Tournament, looking to continue hanging on to the special group that got them to where they are now.
But how will their story be told? According to Paul, his team's story far from finished. “[This is] the most successful class of seniors that we've ever had in the history of our program,” Paul said. “But we have a lot more to write. We're not quite ready to put it in the books yet.”
Players Mentioned
