UNC men’s tennis team bests Duke

Sophomore Jose Hernandez’s celebratory fist pump has always been a part of his game, but never was as appropriate as it was Wednesday in No. 19 North Carolina’s upset 4-3 victory against No. 10 Duke.

A come-from-behind victory from William Parker tied the match at 3-3, bringing both teams to the edge of the number one court as sophomore Hernandez took on a familiar foe in Duke’s Henrique Cunha, and Hernandez delivered.

Cunha, the sixth ranked men’s single player in the nation, delivered ace after ace, but No. 25 Hernandez capitalized on Cunha’s few mistakes to notch the victory against the reigning ACC player of the year.

“I knew he was a tough player, I just had to keep my head straight, and focus on every single point,” Hernandez said.

Hernandez earned a key first set 7-5 victory against Cunha to set the tone in the match before dropping the second set 6-2.

Hernandez broke Cunha’s serve on the second deuce point to clinch the set, 6-4, the match in the tiebreak and ultimately the win for UNC.

Hernandez knew as soon as he saw both teams approach his court that he had to win but quickly regained his focus.

“It’s out of the court,” Hernandez said. “I try to ignore all those factors and focus on what I need to do to win the match.”

Though the Tar Heels’ fate rested on his match, Hernandez was quick to deflect attention from himself and toward his teammates.

“Sometimes the clincher guy gets a lot of the credit because he was the last one out, but it’s a team effort,” Hernandez said.

Junior Brennan Boyajian defeated No. 9 Reid Carleton in straight sets, the highest-ranked opponent he has ever defeated.

After losing the first set, Carleton threw down his racket, but Boyajian kept up his intensity — his yells grew louder as his victory grew closer.

“Reid’s a great player, you can’t get in that guy’s head,” said UNC coach Sam Paul. “I give Brennan a lot of credit.”

The Tar Heels (12-6, 7-2 ACC) won the crucial doubles point with a tiebreaking clincher from the duo of Boyajian and Cameron Ahari 8-5 to take an early 1-0 lead in the match.

Paul said it was key in gaining momentum for the match after losing the doubles point in each of their last four matches.

Duke (16-8, 7-2) didn’t go down easily. Chris Mengel bounced back from down 5-1 to take the first set against one of the most consistent players on the Tar Heel squad, senior Stefan Hardy. Hardy was visibly shaken after squandering the lead and couldn’t regain his composure, losing 6-2 in the second.

Hardy’s teammates were able to pick him up, and a 3-3 split of the singles matches was enough to finish the Blue Devils thanks to the early lead from the doubles point.

Paul is proud of his team’s accomplishments and hopes the team’s cohesiveness will propel them to a victory over Miami, another challenging opponent, this Friday.

“This is a really unselfish team,” Paul said. “They’re not concerned about individual goals, they’re concerned about team goals.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.