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The Daily Tar Heel

UNC men's tennis snaps 7-game winning streak

Up 1-0 after clinching the doubles point, looking to extend a winning streak and staring down its archrival on the opposite side of regulation-sized, 3-foot nets.

But the similarities didn’t stop there Sunday, as the Tar Heels (22-4, 9-2 ACC) were unable to capitalize on their early lead en route to a 5-2 loss at the hands of No. 14 Duke (18-5, 10-1 ACC) in Durham — snapping a seven-game winning streak.

The team had a five-game winning streak ended after falling to Duke in January.

“It did seem like deja vu,” said Brett Clark. “It seemed like this time we were going to turn the corner, but, unfortunately, we didn’t.”

UNC seized the doubles point behind behind the tandems of Oystein Steiro and Nelson Vick and Jack Murray and Ronnie Schneider — just like last time.

After falling behind 1-2, the lengthy Steiro and vivacious Vick won seven of their last nine games on court No. 2 for an 8-4 victory.

On the court mirroring them, Murray and Schneider were down 30-40 after attaining a 7-6 lead.

But the twosome won the break point, the first of five they’d clinch, and finish the match off 8-6 with an overhand from Murray at the net.

UNC, once again, waltzed into singles with the lead, and Clark enhanced the lead with a straight-set victory — just like last time.

Minutes after, Clark hurried up to the stands to encourage his predominantly freshmen teammates.

“Any time when you’re on the road in a hostile environment, especially in maybe the biggest rivalry in any college sports ever, you definitely want to help the younger guys out,” Clark said.

And, as the team’s lead slowly evaporated, the Tar Heels fell behind 3-2 with the pressure falling upon two freshmen to save the team from its fate. Both split their first two sets.

On No. 1, Brayden Schnur was serving with a 2-1 lead when a new aspect deviated from the previous plot. After receiving a warning earlier in the match, Schnur was penalized one point for a time violation.

Schnur’s play down spiraled into a pair of double-faults and a plethora of mishit balls as he lost five of the remaining six games.

He went straight to the umpire after the match to voice his displeasure with the call, walked over and punched the padding of one of the light posts and sat on the bench with a towel over his head as Murray dropped a tiebreaker.

“It’s frustrating when it comes down to that close,” he said. “It’s not the reason why I lost, but it was definitely a turning point in the match.”

Coach Sam Paul said the call didn’t determine the match. He said the match came down to Duke’s dominance in one particular area.

“I’m just not happy with our team’s performance in singles,” Paul said. “We just didn’t play a complete match up and down the line.”

Just like last time.

sports@dailytarheel.com

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