In the final fall competition of the season, the North Carolina men's tennis team turned a second-place finish into a victory.
Senior Brett Clark and sophomore Robert Kelly fell just short of the men's doubles title in the USTA/ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships in Flushing Meadows, New York — falling 6-4, 5-7, 1-0(7) to senior Texas Tech duo Hugo Dojas and Felipe Soares in the tournament finale on Sunday.
After securing a bye in the tournament's opening round, the second-seeded doubles pair of Clark and Kelly defeated three other teams en route to the finals in the four-day event.
“We could have gone out in the first round, or in any round,” Kelly said. “So we knew we had to be ready.”
The North Carolina pairing fell behind quickly in the final after dropping the first set to Texas Tech, but the Tar Heels rallied in the second set to take an early 3-0 lead and break a crucial late serve to win the set and force a winner-take-all tiebreaker.
The 10-point tiebreaker opened up 2-2, but the top-seeded Brazilian duo of Dojas and Soares ripped off five straight points to take a commanding 7-2 lead in the tiebreak — which Clark and Kelly eventually dropped 10-7.
Despite the loss, Kelly said the fall season has given important match experience to his squad.
“Even if we have four guys get hurt in the spring, we have four guys that can step up,” he said. “Getting that big match experience in the fall is big in the spring.”
