The No. 6 North Carolina men’s tennis team beat Virginia Tech, 6-1, in its ACC opener on Friday afternoon.
What happened?
The Tar Heels (10-2, 1-0 ACC) dominated the Hokies (9-2, 0-1 ACC) in the three opening doubles matchups. Playing for UNC in the high-profile matchup of the day, senior Robert Kelly and sophomore William Blumberg, the No. 6 duo in the country, handily beat Virginia Tech’s Hendrik Korsgaard and Alexandre Ribeiro.
Blumberg and Kelly won the first two games in the first set, but the Hokies came back, taking the next two. The strong-armed Tar Heels rallied, however, winning the next four games to win the set 6-2.
Simon Soendergarrd and Mac Kiger’s win in their doubles matchup gave the Tar Heels the sole point from the doubles matches.
Sophomore Joshua Peck’s win in his singles match over Freddy Mesmer, gave UNC its second point of the day. After winning the first set 6-3, he followed up with a 6-1 victory in the second set.
Blumberg only had a short break after his doubles match before he had to take on Virginia Tech’s Mitch Harper, No. 29 in the nation in singles. Harper got the best of Blumberg for most of the first set. Trailing 4-3, Blumberg won three straight games to win the set. He then went on to dominate Harper in the second set in a decisive 6-2 win.
Shortly after Blumberg clinched UNC’s third point, Blaine Boyden won his singles match, giving the Tar Heels the four points they needed to clinch the overall win.
The three remaining singles matches were played out, however. The Tar Heels won two of those three, finishing the day 6-1.