Longhorns Sneak By Men's Tennis

What mattered was supporting their teammates.

Even as North Carolina fans attempted to drown them out, the Longhorns could still be heard. And No. 20 Texas fed off this support to down the Tar Heels 4-3 at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center on Friday.

"These guys believe in each other," said Longhorns coach Michael Center "And they come out and encourage our program."

The match came down to a match between the No. 2 seeds, pitting UNC's Nick Monroe against UT's Rodrigo Echagaray.

Up a set, Monroe won the first three points in a second-set tiebreaker. Echagaray won the next four points to take a 4-3 lead.

After each player lost two points on his serve, Echagaray led 6-5 and was serving for the set. He hit a big serve, approached the net and hit a volley to win the set 7-5.

Mirroring his tiebreaker performance, Monroe started the third set with a three-game lead before finding himself down 4-3. He lost the fourth game in large part because of a controversial call made by Echagaray.

At game point, Echagaray called a Monroe shot out, a call supported by the line judge. Monroe argued the call and was penalized a point for hitting a ball across the court.

To add to Monroe's woes, his legs had been cramping since midway through the second set because of fatigue.

"At 4-4 in the second set my legs just tightened up," Monroe said. "I knew later, when I was up 3-0 in the third that I would just have to grind it out."

Despite Monroe's efforts, Echagaray coasted to a 6-4 win.

"I felt like I got fired up too quickly," Monroe said. "And that just took the energy out of my game. Over the last few weeks, for some reason, I wasn't in the best of shape. That's not going to keep me from winning another three setter."

The Tar Heels trailed the Longhorns the entire match, losing the doubles point 2-1. The only doubles win by UNC came from Marcio Petrone and Greg Archer, who defeated Texas' Michael Domanski and Ryan Hammond 8-5.

The Tar Heel singles players appeared to have an early advantage, with No. 4 seed Andy Metzler winning by injury against Domanski. No. 5 seed Trystan Meniane topped Roger Gubser 6-4, 6-1, and No. 6 seed Daniel Pinchbeck beat Drew Hoskins 6-3, 6-3.

But in the end, the three singles points just weren't enough.

"We have to work on the things that we need to do in a match," said UNC coach Sam Paul. "We know we're a good team, we just have to prove it."

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