Tar Heels men’s tennis team drops semifinal matchup to Blue Devils

Following the same path through the ACC tournament as last year, the No. 18 North Carolina men’s tennis team failed to stop Duke for the second straight season.

The Tar Heels won their quarterfinal match against Wake Forest 4-0 on Friday. But they lost to No. 8 Duke 4-2 in the semifinals on Saturday in a rematch of their dramatic 4-3 comeback win during the regular season.

Last year, UNC also beat Wake Forest in the ACC tournament then lost to the Blue Devils after beating them 4-3 in a regular season comeback.

Coach Sam Paul said he was happy with his team’s effort on Saturday, if not the result.

“We didn’t quit,” Paul said. “Duke’s got a very good team. They’ve been playing very well, and we did not quit.”

Earlier this season, UNC rode upsets on the top two singles courts to a win against the Blue Devils.

There were no upsets on Saturday.

No. 27 Jose Hernandez, who upset No. 4 Henrique Cunha in the regular season, lost his tournament match, 6-2, 6-4.

And No. 81 Brennan Boyajian beat No. 36 Chris Mengel in their first match but lost 7-5, 6-4 on Saturday.

“It’s not individual. It’s everyone,” Hernandez said. “Two weeks ago Brennan and I got the W and the team won, but that doesn’t mean anything.”

At 30-30 in the final game, with Hernandez threatening to tie the second set, Cunha played a brilliant point. He ran Hernandez all over the court and forced a backhand error, then easily closed out the match on the next point.

UNC got wins from William Parker and Esben Hess-Olesen, but it wasn’t enough.

Hess-Olesen beat Torsten Wietoska after a rare game penalty. After Hess-Olesen broke Wietoska to go up 4-1 in the second set, Wietoska smashed his racket into his tennis bag.

The chair judge immediately awarded Hess-Olesen the next game, which put him up 5-1. He won the match two games later.

“We played like it was our last match of the year,” Hernandez said. “Esben won his match, and he lost two weeks ago. Parker lost two weeks ago, and he won in straight sets. So there were a lot of positives. They just played better than us.”

UNC also struggled against Wake Forest but righted the ship.

Joey Burkhardt, Boyajian and Hernandez all lost their first sets. And two Tar Heels who won their first set, Hess-Olesen and Oystein Steiro, dropped the second.

But Hernandez and Steiro won in three sets, and North Carolina advanced to the semifinals.

The biggest game for Hernandez, playing against Danny Kreyman, came on his serve while up 4-2 in the third set. Hernandez came back from 0-40 and won five straight points to keep his one-break advantage.

With the ACC tournament over, North Carolina will start practicing for the NCAA tournament, which starts in May.

Paul said losing in the ACC’s won’t hurt the team’s momentum.

“Our kids are a group of fighters,” Paul said. “I mean, Duke’s ranked eighth in the country. We’ll be ready for the NCAA tournament. We’re in a good spot.”

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