No. 17 North Carolina had already clinched the match against Navy at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center on Friday, but three Tar Heels needed a shortened third set to clinch their singles matches.
When a team has already clinched a dual match and players still playing split the opening two sets of their singles match, a super tiebreaker substitutes for an entire third set. The player to first win 10 points, by a margin of at least two, wins.
“It would be good for us to play our third sets out because it gets you in better shape” UNC coach Sam Paul said. “It’s good to get on and off the court quickly, but more so later in the season than this early in the season.”
UNC’s Joey Burkhardt, Esben Hess-Olesen and Taylor Meyer all prevailed against their opponents in super tiebreakers to help UNC to its 7-0 victory against Navy.
“It definitely helped us today because we’re a little beat up,” Paul said. “Some guys got some nagging injuries that we’ve been milking a little bit, so it’s good to get on and off the court quickly.”
After losing the first set of his singles match, Burkhardt benefited from the shorter third set to seal his win.
Because of Jose Hernandez’s absence, Burkhardt was moved up to court 3 where he faced Navy’s Calvin Mark, who was previously undefeated in dual matches. Hernandez is representing his native Dominican Republic in the Davis Cup.
Burkhardt jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the first set but lost five of the next seven games to set up a tiebreaker. During opponent Calvin Mark’s first-set comeback, Burkhardt responded to an unforced error by kicking the ball off a nearby wall in frustration.
Two unforced errors by Burkhardt, a forehand into the net and a missed volley helped Mark win the first set 7-6.
