Men's Tennis Rallies Past Louisville, 4-3

Friday, March 7

Louisville, Ky.

4 PM

North Carolina

Louisville

Vladislav Melnic

Photo by: Louisville Athletics

March 7, 2025 | Men's Tennis

Box Score Results (.pdf)

By: Matt Bowers

LOUISVILLE, KY.—Vladislav Melnic won the clincher and North Carolina took four of six singles matches in a 4-3, come-from-behind win at Louisville on Friday afternoon at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center.

Carolina won for the fourth time in its last five matches and improved to 8-4 overall this season and 2-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Cardinals lost their sixth consecutive match and fell to 5-9 overall, 0-3 in the ACC.

Louisville won the doubles point with wins at No. 2 by Hamza El Amine and Enrique Pena over Diego Jarry and Anthony Wright (6-3) and Kosuke Nakanishi and Andre Steinbach over Melnic and Chris Xu at No. 1 (6-2).

After the Cardinals had taken a 1-0 lead in doubles play, the Tar Heels tied the score at 1-1 when Anthony Wright won his match at No. 4 singles, 7-6 (7) and 6-2. Louisville retook the lead shortly thereafter with a win at No. 6 over Nick Mangiapane that made the score 2-1.

The two teams traded wins in the next two singles matches, allowing Louisville to maintain its one-point lead. Carolina's Chris Xu won at No. 3 to tie the score at 2-all, only to see UofL retake the lead at 3-2 with a victory at No. 5 over Jarry.

The Tar Heels won marathon, three-set decisions in the final two matches of the day to ensure the victory.

Constantinos Djakouris beat Will Mayew at No. 2 singles, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to make the score 3-3, Melnic followed with his come-from-behind, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 1 to clinch the team victory.

The Tar Heels will return to action on Sunday at noon at Notre Dame.

North Carolina 4, Louisville 3
Singles competition
1. Vladislav Melnic (NC) def. Natan Rodrigues (LOU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
2. Constantinos Djakouris (NC) def. Will Mayew (LOU) 6-4, 4-6, 6-2
3. Chris Xu (NC) def. Andre Steinbach (LOU) 6-4, 7-5
4. Anthony Wright (NC) def. Kosuke Nakanishi (LOU) 6-6 (9-7), 6-2
5. Miguel Avendano (LOU) def. Diego Jarry (NC) 6-3, 1-6, 6-4
6. Hamza El Amine (LOU) def. Nick Mangiapane (NC) 6-4, 6-4

Doubles competition
1. Kosuke Nakanishi/Andre Steinbach (LOU) def. Vladislav Melnic/Chris Xu (NC) 6-2
2. Hamza El Amine/Enrique Pena (LOU) def. Diego Jarry/Anthony Wright (NC) 6-3
3. Miguel Avendano/Natan Rodrigues (LOU) vs. C. Djakouris/Patrick Schoen (NC) 4-2, unfinished

Match Notes:
North Carolina 8-4
Louisville 5-9
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (4,6,3,5,2,1)
Time of match: 3:15

Follow Carolina Tennis
Keep up with all the latest Tar Heel tennis news by following @carolinatennis on X and @tarheeltennis on Instagram.