Third Sets Frustrate Men's Tennis Twice

When matches came down to the wire this weekend, the North Carolina men's tennis team couldn't deliver.

The third set proved particularly fatal for the Tar Heels.

UNC fell 5-2 against Tulsa on Saturday at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center after dropping a 6-1 decision to South Florida on Friday.

Saturday, the Tar Heels' first close match came during doubles play.

Freshman Nicholas Monroe and sophomore Marcio Petrone teamed up at the top-seeded position against the Golden Hurricane's Dane McGregor and Shiranga Sudhaker.

UNC claimed the victory at No. 2 doubles, and Tulsa had just won the

No. 3 match. And it looked as if the Tar Heels would come back and steal the doubles point out from underneath Tulsa's No. 1 tandem.

Monroe and Petrone were down 7-4 when they broke and held serve to rally and tighten the score to 7-6.

But Tulsa denied the Tar Heels' comeback attempt and held serve to win 8-6.

"We were just trying to grind it out, and it didn't happen," Monroe said. "We both missed a couple opportunities at the net."

Both Monroe and Petrone bounced back from the loss to win their singles matches.

Petrone defeated Pawel Sebastyanski in straight sets 6-4, 6-2. Monroe extended his undefeated singles streak to six matches and won decisively against Sudhaker 6-2, 6-3.

"In singles I played really well," Monroe said. "I've been consistently taking the ball early."

The rest of the UNC's singles matches didn't end quite so well.

Senior Chad Riley lost in straight sets to Tulsa's Sean Monk, 6-3, 6-4. Riley sat out of Friday's match because of a pulled muscle.

"His injury contributed to the loss," Paul said. "We're not putting on our best team right now."

The remaining three Tar Heel singles matches all went into the third set, where each UNC player lost.

The first to fall was Greg Archer at the fifth seed. His 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 loss clinched the win for the Golden Hurricane.

Senior David Cheatwood and sophomore Trystan Meniane both lost in the third set by a margin of two games.

Although the 6-1 score of UNC's loss to South Florida on Friday is less indicative of a close match, the individual scores show the slim margins of victory.

Petrone and Archer both fell in the third set, 6-4. The loss was Archer's first of the season.

Cheatwood also extended his play into the third set, where his opponent, Paco Antelo, walked away with a 4-6,

6-4, 6-2 victory. The Bulls clinched the doubles point in a 8-6 match at the

No. 1 slot.

"I'm proud of my guys," Paul said. "They played even harder today than yesterday. We just came out on the short end of the stick."

 

The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu.