Men's Tennis Bows Out Early

ORLANDO, Fla. -- Put Nick Monroe in a bubble Friday afternoon, and maybe he wins his match against Clemson's Darren Knight.

Keep North Carolina's No. 3 seed from realizing that his match will decide whether the second-seeded Tar Heels advance to the semifinals of the ACC championship, and maybe his muscles don't tighten and his shots stay steady.

Let the freshman just play his game, and maybe the momentum of capturing the first set carries over into second.

Maybe he doesn't end up losing to Knight 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, bouncing the Tar Heels from the tournament 4-3 at Lake Cane Tennis Center.

"That was the first time that I'd ever had to win it for the team in the final match. And to be honest, I was a little scared," Monroe said. "I just wasn't going for my shots and just kind of let it get to me."

North Carolina (11-8) had earned the tournaments No. 2 seed after defeating the Tigers in Clemson, S.C., 5-2 on April 15.

But Knight sat out that contest because of tendonitis in both knees, an injury he has battled for much of the season. His return Friday allowed the seventh-seeded Tigers (6-19) to play four seniors and bump down the No. 4, 5 and 6 players in their lineup.

Knight also played No. 1 doubles, defeating UNC's top duo of Marcio Petrone and Greg Archer 8-6 along with partner Brad Emendorfer. The Tar Heels No. 2 tandem of David Cheatwood and Monroe also lost 8-6, giving Clemson the opening point of the match.

In singles, UNC's Trystan Meniane beat Mark Gojanovic at the No. 4 seed 6-3, 6-3, his ninth win in 11 matches, to even the contest. Petrone then lost at the top seed, and Chad Riley, who won the deciding match against the Tigers in the regular season, lost at No. 6 to give Clemson a 3-1 edge.

"They just outplayed us," UNC coach Sam Paul said. "You've got to get them credit. On the big points, they outplayed us."

The Tar Heels were one loss away from bowing out of the tournament, but they nearly pulled off the comeback.

Archer orchestrated a comeback of his own in a second-set tiebreaker to defeat Micah Thompson 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) at the No. 5 spot. Cheatwood, meanwhile, clawed his way back from a horrendous opening set to beat long-time rival Emendorfer at No. 2, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2.

By the time Emendorfer had hit his final forehand into the net, Monroe was already down 2-1 and a break to Knight in the final set.

Monroe had played his way to a 5-2 edge in a tiebreaker in the previous set before missing an easy sitter volley, losing his momentum and allowing Knight to charge back and win 7-6.

"I think he didn't quite get over that in the third set, and it affected him," Knight said. "He missed a few more shots, and I kept my level pretty consistent. He just kind of mentally fell apart.

"He was giving a lot of loose errors. He was either just really frustrated, or the pressure just probably got to him."

Knight held serve to go up 3-1 in the third, and the set quickly went downhill for Monroe. He went up 30-15 on his serve the following game, but lost the final three points, including a double fault at 30-30, to put himself in a 4-1 hole.

It was too much for Monroe to overcome. Knight, noticeably larger and stronger than Monroe, kept up his onslaught of powerful ground strokes, big serves and aggressive play. Monroe kept fighting, even pushing Knight to a break point on his final serve, but too many missed opportunities had already taken their toll.

The Tar Heels will now wait to see if they will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

"We'll get ready, we'll take some time off, and we'll regroup," Paul said. "We'll learn a lot from today's match. It's sort of funny. This is the first time that some people have been in this situation all year long.

"This group fights hard. Our guys always fight hard and always put us in a position to win. It was a great match. Clemson just played a little bit better at the end."

 

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.