UNC men’s tennis tops Duke in second-straight regular season match

No. 18 North Carolina won its second straight regular season match against No. 5 Duke on Wednesday 4-3 after trailing 3-1.

No. 103 Brennan Boyajian came back after losing the first set to defeat Duke’s No. 26 Chris Mengel 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 in the decisive singles match.

“It definitely feels like my best win as a Tar Heel,” Boyajian said. “There’s nothing better than beating Duke 4-3 and clinching the match with your teammates going crazy for you on the sideline.”

The Tar Heels rushed to Boyajian in celebration, and continued yelling in the locker room after the match.

UNC started the match strong when it won the doubles point behind an 8-1 win by No. 30 Jose Hernandez and Joey Burkhardt against Duke’s No. 28 Henrique Cunha and Chris Mengel.

But the Tar Heels failed to win any of their six first sets in singles play.

Three Tar Heels lost the second set as well to make the other three matches must-wins for UNC. No. 33 Hernandez started the comeback with an upset of Duke’s No. 4 Cunha for the second straight year 2-6, 6-1, 7-5.

Hernandez said his win last year against Cunha gave him confidence.

“It’s totally different when we play at Duke and I have 20 guys behind me talking trash,” Hernandez said. “The wind was blowing in a weird way and the game plan changed depending on which side of the court I was on.”

After losing the first set, Hernandez won five consecutive games in the second to set up a decisive third set.

Both players won their first service game but then exchanged breaks in six consecutive games. Cunha finally held to take a 5-4 lead and move within one game of clinching the match for Duke, but Hernandez also won his service game.

Hernandez forced a deuce in the next game and broke Cunha again with consecutive winners. Serving for the match, Hernandez blasted a serve that tied Cunha’s hands up and the Blue Devil could only return it into the net.

“I have no sympathy against Duke, no sympathy at all,” Hernandez said. “I think that loss when I cramped up helped me grow up as a person and be a fighter against Duke.”

Hernandez’s win cut Duke’s overall lead to 3-2. Freshman Oystein Steiro tied the match shortly after when he defeated Duke’s Jason Tahir 6-7, 6-4, 6-3.

That left it all up to Boyajian.

“Brennan’s been there for us so many times, and I’m so proud of him,” coach Sam Paul said.

Boyajian came close in the first set, but his lone break proved decisive in Mengel’s 6-4 win. The Tar Heel senior responded by winning a second-set tiebreaker that if he had lost would have clinched the match for the Blue Devils.

The decisive set started with five straight holds in service games and Mengel holding a slim 3-2 lead. When he walked to the bench for a timeout, Mengel started leaning on his racket because of cramps and called for a medical timeout.

“They made a commitment in conditioning, and that really helped a lot,” Paul said.

Hobbling in the next game, Mengel hit four unforced errors to tie the set 3-3. Unable to stand straight, he hit underhand serves in the first two points of his service game but still ran to Boyajian’s shots during the points.

Boyajian took advantage, breaking Mengel to take a 4-3 lead. But the Blue Devil sophomore refused to give up and hit aggressive returns in Boyajian’s service game to break him.

Mengel failed to hold serve when he missed a volley to give Boyajian a 5-4 lead and the chance to serve for the match. After five deuce points, Boyajian hit a winner to set up his third match point and closed the match with a strong serve that Mengel could not return.

Now 9-1 in conference play, the Tar Heels will play No. 70 Maryland to finish the regular season this Sunday before heading to the ACC tournament.

“I’ve never been so proud of a group of kids in my life,” Paul said.

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.