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April 14, 2006
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The No. 11 ranked Virginia men’s tennis team suffered its second conference loss of the season, falling to No. 12 North Carolina 4-3 Friday afternoon at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center. The loss drops the Cavaliers’ record to 18-7 on the season, and 8-2 in the ACC.
The Cavaliers opened the contest by winning the doubles point for the 14th consecutive match. The team of Treat Huey (Alexandria, Va.) and Somdev Devvarman (Chennai, India) scored an 8-4 win over David Stone and Lenny Gullan. The No. 27 ranked team of Rylan Rizza (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) and Nick Meythaler (Owensboro, Ky.) downed No. 6 ranked Raian Luchici and Brad Pomeroy 8-4 at No. 1 doubles to clinch the opening point. Darrin Cohen (Lafayette, Calif.) and Doug Stewart (Malibu, Calif.) completed the doubles sweep with their tiebreaker win over Derek Porter and Sebastian Guejman.
In singles, the Cavaliers extended their lead to 2-0 as Huey downed Guejman 6-3, 6-1 at No. 4 singles. The Tar Heels (22-3, 7-3) got on the board at No. 3 singles where Porter defeated Stewart. North Carolina tied the match at 2-2 as Aly Mandour defeated Cohen at No. 6 singles. Luchici gave the Tar Heels their first lead, 3-2, as he topped Devvarman at the No. 1 position. Rizza drew the Cavaliers even as he won a three set match against Pomeroy, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 at No. 2 singles. With the match on the line, it came down to No. 5 singles where Marko Miklo (Bratislava, Slovakia) and Benjamin Carlotti were heading into the third set. In the deciding set, the players broker serve in each of the first ten games of the set to get to 5-5 before Carlotti held to get to 6-5. Miklo then held to force a tiebreaker, which Carlotti won 7-4 to clinch the match.
“It was a classic ACC match and it once again proves just how strong this conference is,” said Virginia head coach Brian Boland. “Congratulations to North Carolina, I thought they completed hard and deserved to win.”
The Cavaliers close out the regular season on Sunday as they visit Duke.
No. 12 North Carolina 4, No. 11 Virginia 3
Doubles:
1) #27 Rizza/Meythaler (UVa) def. #6 Pomeroy/Luchici (UNC) 8-4
2) Huey/Devvarman (UVa) def. Stone/Gullan (UNC) 8-4
3. Cohen/Stewart (UVa) def. Porter/Guejman (UNC) 9-8
Singles:
1. #18 Raian Luchici (UNC) def. #9 Somdev Devvarman (UVa) 6-2, 7-6
2. #67 Rylan Rizza (UVa) def. Brad Pomeroy (UNC) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5
3. Derek Porter (UNC) def. #91 Doug Stewart (UVa) 7-5, 6-1
4. #53 Treat Huey (UVa) def. Sebastian Guejman (UNC) 6-3, 6-1
5. Benjamin Carlotti (UNC) def. Marko Miklo (UVa) 1-6, 6-3, 7-6
6. Aly Mandour (UNC) def. Darrin Cohen (UVa) 6-4, 7-5