Esben Hess-Olesen has faced his share of obstacles in his college career.
After bolstering a 22-12 singles record in 2012-13 as a sophomore, a mark that placed him 46th in the ITA singles rankings, the sky looked to be the limit for the Denmark native.
But a series of back injuries sidelined Hess-Olesen, now a senior, for the majority of the 2014 and 2015 seasons. Coming into the Tar Heels' match with Mississippi State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament Saturday, he had only competed in seven singles matches in his senior year.
So when Coach Sam Paul asked Hess-Olesen to play at the No. 6 singles position Saturday, there was no hesitation in the senior's response. This is something he had been working towards for a long time.
"It was kind of the plan after the ACC Tournament (to have me play). We were kind of building up towards this," Hess-Olesen said. "We knew yesterday … we'd rest me for singles, and I got after it today, and it was pretty successful."
The wait paid off for Hess-Olesen, as he claimed a straight-sets win against Julian Cash at No. 6, clinching a 4-1 victory for UNC against the Bulldogs.
As the match began, the Tar Heels knew they would have their hands full with Mississippi State's doubles pairs, who just the day before outlasted Denver for a point which took one hour and 15 minutes to capture.
UNC was able to take the doubles point with victories on court one — where Hess-Olesen and Brayden Schnur earned an 8-6 win against Cash and Florian Lakat — and court two, setting up a situation where North Carolina would only need three singles wins to clinch the match.
In singles play, freshman Robert Kelly channelled the Tar Heels doubles momentum into a straight-sets victory against Tassilo Schmid to push the lead to 2-0.