Men's tennis team scores fourth consecutive

North Carolina senior David Stone stood center court unnerved. He toed the line, serving to secure the doubles point against Auburn. It was a precarious situation for the soft-spoken senior, yet one that Stone seemingly relished. He wound up and arched a shot into the back left corner, pushing the Tigers' Lukas Marsoun into a backhanded return. The return, however, never came - Marsoun slapped his shot into the net. "I've been playing college tennis for four years so you kind of get used to (those situations)," Stone said. "However, I love it coming down to the end of the match because we refuse to give up and we refuse to give in." That determined mindset has carried strongly throughout the squad as the No. 8 North Carolina (8-3) men's tennis team has won four straight against top-35 opponents. The Tar Heels' most recent triumph came Tuesday in a 4-0 victory against No. 35 Auburn. As with two of its three previous matches, UNC secured the doubles point right away. The senior pairing of Lenny Gullan and Stone won a highly contested 8-6 match, while sophomores Clay Donato and Chris Kearney secured the point by defeating their opponents in the same fashion. "You like (intense matches) like that," UNC head coach Sam Paul said. "They're just part of the business. They're why you come to work every day." In singles play, the team won all three matches as Kearney and Donato paced the team individually, each winning in straight sets. The ever-steady Kearney brought home victory with his customary strong serve. After winning the first set, 6-4, he earned a 5-4 game advantage in the second. As with Stone before, Kearney was serving for the win. And not to be outdone by his teammate, Kearney forced a Tiger error to secure the win. The story of the day in singles, however, belonged to the methodical Donato as he won 6-2, 6-1. Donato continually overpowered and outsmarted Auburn's Marsoun with timely forehands to the opposite court and tricky drop shots at the net. As the match ended, Marsoun slammed his racquet against the wall, a summation of frustration over the helplessness he continually experienced throughout the match. "I just came out making a lot of first serves and making a lot of returns," Donato said. "He was hitting the ball real short, so I was coming up and taking it early and getting to the net as much as possible. I controlled the pace of the match doing that." The match was win 245 for Paul, moving him into third place on North Carolina's all-time list. In the process, he passed his predecessor, Allen Morris. "I'm very humbled and very fortunate to be at North Carolina," Paul said. "It's been a heck of a lot of fun." Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.