The No. 14 UNC men’s tennis squad dropped their match to No. 3 TCU by a score of 3-4..
What happened?
North Carolina did not win the doubles point for just the second time this season. First-year Will Jansen and graduate student Karl Poling dropped their match first with a final score of 3-6. However, graduate student Ryan Seggerman and sophomore Casey Kania kept the Tar Heels in doubles contention with their 6-4 win. It was up to the No. 3 match to determine who would get on the board first. Graduate student Brian Cernoch and first-year Benjamin Kittay kept it close until the last serve, but they were handled 4-6 by TCU. The Horned Frogs went into the break with a 1-0 lead, so it was up to North Carolina’s single matches to get them back into the match.
Poling finished his singles match first and tied the match at 1-1. Jansen dropped his first set 4-6, but quickly got out to a 4-1 lead in the second. However, as the set progressed, his opponent fought back and won the set 7-5 to clinch the Horned Frog’s second point of the day.
In Cernoch’s singles match, he dropped the first set 2-6 and seemed to be destined for defeat. However, he fought back and won the second set 6-3 and the third set 6-4. Seggerman had a similar match, as he dropped the first set 1-6 but came back to sweep the second and third sets 6-3 and 6-4. Sophomore Chris Li uncharacteristically dropped his match in two sets, which tied the match 3-3 and turned all eyes to senior Anuj Watane.
After winning the first set 7-5, Watane dropped the second set 4-6 and was forced to play a third. He dropped the last set 1-6, giving TCU the win.
Who stood out?
The Tar Heels double team consisting of graduate student Seggerman and Kania gave UNC their only doubles victory of the day. Poling was one of the few Tar Heels who came out of their first set victorious. Poling handled his opponent in two sets to get the Tar Heels on the board. Cernoch came from behind to defeat his opponent in three sets, which gave the Tar Heels a good deal of momentum. Seggerman had a comeback victory as well which kept UNC in the match. Watane found himself with the ability to clinch the match for UNC once again,
