At 5:30 p.m. Sunday, the members of the North Carolina men’s tennis team stood in complete silence at UNC’s Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center.
Though Florida State had already clinched the match, the Tar Heels were waiting to see whether freshman Brett Clark would pull out a tiebreaker game against Florida State’s Benjamin Lock for the team’s second singles victory.
The pair had split sets, and neither had taken a commanding lead in the playoff game. But with the match on the line, Clark keyed in on Lock, and after more than two hours with his foot in the door, the freshman walked through with a win.
“Playing this high level of tennis, it’s only a couple of points that determine the outcome,” Clark said. “Especially how long the match was, there were a bunch of ups and downs.”
Like Clark’s singles match, UNC had its ups and downs this weekend.
Though the Tar Heels fell to the Seminoles 5-2 on Sunday, the weekend began on a high note when UNC upset Miami 5-2 on Friday.
Against Miami, the powerful pair of Esben Hess-Olesen and Clark fought back from a 3-6 hole to win 8-6, and, combined with an 8-1 win by William Parker and Nelson Vick, UNC took the doubles point for the day.
The Tar Heels followed up with a strong singles set, winning four of the six matches.
But against FSU on Sunday, UNC split the first two doubles matches, and the third showdown was another close match.