Virginia downs men's tennis

By the time Brad Pomeroy finally strode to the net to congratulate his Virginia opponent at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center on Sunday, he looked tired and frustrated.

After winning his first set 6-2, he’d gone on to lose 6-4, 6-3 in the second and third, and his powder-blue T-shirt was soaked with sweat. Much like the rest of his teammates, Pomeroy had fought hard, but lost.

Despite the Tar Heels’ 5-2 loss to the Cavaliers, UNC coach Sam Paul said he was pleased with the team’s overall performance.

MEN'S TENNIS Virginia 5 UNC 2 UNC 1 Wake Forest 6

“Virginia’s got a great team,” Paul said. “You’ve got to give them credit.”

Currently ranked third in the nation, UVa. (20-2, 8-0 in the ACC) has more than a great team, but the No. 40 Tar Heels (14-7, 4-4) don’t think that they’re far behind.

“I told the guys in the locker room, it’s an extremely thin line,” Pomeroy said. “These guys just aren’t that much better than we are, and if we keep working harder, we can take them out.”

Although the Tar Heels failed to take the Cavaliers out Sunday, many players, like Pomeroy, made impressive showings.

After losing their first sets 6-0 and 6-3, respectively, both Jonathan Janda and Sebastian Guejman rallied to win their matches by clinching successive sets.

“It took me the first set to realize what I had to do,” Guejman said. After that realization, Guejman simply took his opponent apart, he said.

The rest of the team wasn’t so fortunate. Pomeroy was the only Tar Heel to win his first set, and he, Janda and Guejman had the only matches that went to third sets.

North Carolina’s No. 1 singles player, Raian Luchici, lost in straight sets 6-0, 6-2 to 11th-ranked Doug Stewart.

But before the singles matches even began, the Tar Heels already had started down the road to a possible defeat, losing all three of their doubles matches.

Both Paul and Pomeroy agreed that the team needed to work on avoiding such slow starts.

“One thing we could do better is come out with a lot more fire in the doubles matches and come out from the first point,” Pomeroy said. “I think the last couple matches, we’ve waited ’til we were down to start playing, and we’ve fought hard, but we needed to fight hard from point one to the last point.”

Sunday’s loss, taken together with the team’s 6-1 defeat at the hands of No. 28 Wake Forest on Friday, has left the Tar Heels hungry for a win, especially against their next opponent — Duke.

The No. 5 Blue Devils have not lost to the their Tobacco Road rivals since 1996, something the Tar Heels hope to change when the two teams square off Wednesday.

Paul said the match would provide another great opportunity to prove that UNC can win against top competition.

Regardless of what happens against Duke on Wednesday, the Tar Heels will have plenty of opportunities to face talented teams in the upcoming ACC Tournament, which is less than two weeks away. Four of the league’s teams now are ranked in the top 25.

But for the moment, all of UNC’s energies are focused on its archrival.

“You never like to lose to Virginia or Duke, so I think it’s just motivation for us this week,” Pomeroy said. “We haven’t won since 1996, and we’ve lost the last three times, so we want to get a win for our seniors and send them out on a high note.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@unc.edu.