In its ACC season opener, the No. 6 North Carolina men’s tennis team won the battle of the blues with a 4-1 victory over Duke on Thursday afternoon.
What happened?
Thursday afternoon started with three neck-and-neck runs of doubles matches. Sophomore Mac Kiger and junior Simon Soendergaard finished first on Court Two with a hard-fought victory over Blue Devils Catalin Mateas and Vincent Lin, winning, 7-5.
“I thought Mac and I started off a little slow in the doubles,” Soendergaard said. “Then, we started to raise our level as the match went on, and then, we got the win in the end.”
Senior Blaine Boyden and junior William Blumberg also won a close match, securing the doubles point for the Tar Heels with a finish of 6-4.
In singles, North Carolina was able to win three of the four finished matches, and secure the team win. Soendergaard carried his doubles success into a straight set, 6-1, 6-2 victory over Duke’s Jason Lapidus.
“In my singles, I thought I played pretty steady and tried to stay solid," Soendergaard said. "I tried to work for every point so (I’m) glad that it worked out in my favor.”
On Court Four, Boyden secured North Carolina's second singles win with a score of 6-4, 6-2.
In Duke's only win, Spencer Furman took down junior Josh Peck by a 6-3, 6-3 score. But the Tar Heels came back in a hard-fought match won by first-year Brian Cernoch with a 7-6 (3), 6-3 win, the last point needed to take the team’s ACC opener over the Blue Devils.
