The No. 18 UNC men’s tennis team (13-7, 8-3) lost its five-game win streak with a 4-1 loss at No. 8 Wake Forest (29-5, 10-1) on Saturday afternoon.
What happened?
Saturday’s matchup in Winston-Salem began with doubles play. Wake Forest was awarded the first point after winning two of the three doubles matches. UNC first-year Casey Kania and sophomore Logan Zapp fell 6-3, and senior Benjamin Sigouin and sophomore Peter Murphy lost in a close 7-6 match.
North Carolina was able to secure one of the doubles matchups with the help of seniors No. 8 Brian Cernoch and Mac Kiger, who pulled off a 6-3 win. Regardless of this, the two doubles losses led to the Tar Heels entering singles play down 1-0.
Cernoch and Kiger continued to lead the Tar Heels in singles play with little help from their teammates. No. 33 Cernoch had a dominant 6-2 win in his first set. His doubles partner Kiger also continued to contribute to UNC with a 6-3 win in his first set. Zapp, Murphy and Sigouin were unsuccessful in their first set of singles, just as they had been in doubles. Junior Anuj Watane also struggled in his first singles set, falling 6-3.
Zapp was the first to finish his singles match, losing in two sets to give the Deacons their second point. Wake Forest acquired its third and fourth points when Murphey and Sigouin also lost their matches in the second set. Cernoch fell 6-2 in his second single set, but was able to put the Tar Heels on the scoreboard with a 7-6 win in the third set.
Despite Kiger’s strong start on Saturday, he struggled in his second singles set and suffered a 6-1 loss. His match went to a third set, but the set was abandoned when any chance of a North Carolina comeback was lost. Watane’s singles match was also abandoned, and Wake Forest ended the match with a 4-1 win.
Who stood out?
Cernoch and Kiger served as the most significant contributors to the Tar Heels on Saturday. The ranked doubles duo had the only doubles match win for UNC, though it didn’t earn the team a place on the scoreboard.