UNC men’s tennis tramples Navy 7-0

North Carolina men’s tennis dropped just one point against Navy in their meeting last season, cruising to a 6-1 win.

They had even less trouble this year.

No. 19 UNC (3-1) rolled over the Midshipmen, sweeping the six singles matches and taking two of the three doubles matches for a 7-0 victory.

The Tar Heels mixed up their normal lineup, resting No. 90 junior Brennan Boyajian and only keeping one of their three usual doubles pairings — senior Stefan Hardy and junior Zach Hunter — intact.

But UNC coach Sam Paul said the new pairings were not the reason the Tar Heels lost one of the matches.

“I wasn’t pleased with the doubles energy,” Paul said. “We need to perform better than that.”

No. 58 junior Joey Burkhardt also sat out, missing his fourth straight dual match. A transfer from Florida, he has not yet participated in team play for North Carolina.

“Joey has failed to meet team obligations at this time,” Paul said. “Until he does, he won’t participate.”

But even without Boyajian and Burkhardt, it was a relatively easy day for a Tar Heel team that was coming off two tough matches against top 25 opponents. UNC beat No. 22 Georgia Tech 4-3 on Jan. 29, then lost 4-1 to No. 11 Georgia on Jan. 30.

Navy’s players, though, were nowhere near the level of Georgia’s or Georgia Tech’s.

No. 30 sophomore Jose Hernandez, who upset No. 12 Guillermo Gomez of Georgia Tech, easily handled Midshipman Owen Bullard, 6-2, 6-4, on the first court.

Hernandez also played at the No. 1 flight against Navy last season, which was his only time on the top court.

No. 103 Hardy, who lost his singles matches against Georgia Tech and Georgia in straight sets, had no problem against Navy’s Marcus Rebersak. He won in straight sets, 6-3, 6-0, and was the first Tar Heel off the court.

Hardy had been hampered by a knee injury. Paul said he has been getting better with each match he plays, and Hardy said his knee is essentially back to full strength.

“There’s some scar tissue and I can’t bend it as much as I used to, but I don’t really bend it that much in a match anyway,” Hardy said. “It’s 100 percent. It feels good.”

The Navy match was only a small break for North Carolina. UNC will travel to Alabama on Saturday to take on No. 28 Auburn, then return to UNC’s Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center for a Feb. 15 match against No. 4 Ohio State.

Hernandez said the team was not distracted by their upcoming schedule.

“I never slack in a match,” Hernandez said. “We don’t lose rhythm and we still play at 100 percent. We take it one at a time. I don’t look that far ahead.”

Contact the Sports Editor at sports@dailytarheel.com.