Tar Heels Topple 15th-Ranked VCU In Weekend Action

But the 40th-ranked North Carolina men's tennis team has much more to prove, even after beating No. 15 Virginia Commonwealth 5-2 on Sunday at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.

The win marked the team's fourth straight victory and the third consecutive year UNC has defeated a higher-ranked VCU team.

The Tar Heels (12-4, 3-0 in the ACC) next play No. 24 Wake Forest in their last home match before going on the road for their last four matches, all against ACC teams.

"We have high expectations, but we will still take it one match at a time," said UNC coach Sam Paul. "We have to play a great Wake Forest team that is probably having its best year in 20 or 30 seasons."

North Carolina tied last year's win total in a 5-2 victory against Clemson on Friday. In the win, the Tar Heels got singles victories from No. 1 Marcio Petrone, No. 3 Nicholas Monroe, No. 4 Daniel Pinchbeck and No. 5 Geoff Boyd.

But it was UNC's upset win against VCU (16-3), which earlier this season defeated defending ACC champion Duke, that capped off the Tar Heels' weekend.

"Those guys are here probably wondering how we can be ranked No. 40," said Andrew Metzler, who won at No. 6 singles, 6-1, 6-2 against Julien Lousao. "We're finally starting to prove ourselves, and this is just the start."

Sunday's action began with doubles play, and the match's first point boiled down to the No. 3 doubles teams of UNC's Trystan Meniane and Daniel Pinchbeck against the Rams' Fernando Sanchez and Daniel Casquero. Both teams held serve throughout for an 8-8 tie, forcing a tiebreaker.

After Meniane and Pinchbeck led the tiebreaker 6-1, Sanchez and Casquero pulled to within 6-5 before Meniane hit a service winner to take the match 9-8 and capture the doubles point for UNC.

"We have lost a lot of close ones like that," Pinchbeck said. "But I wasn't too worried because I knew we could pull it out."

Not only did Pinchbeck help give UNC the doubles point, but he also clinched the match in singles with a 6-2, 6-4 win against VCU's Marton Ott, who was handed his first singles loss of the season.

"We've had different heroes step up in each match," Paul said. "But Daniel and everyone played well today."

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