After a tough weekend against Virginia and Virginia Tech, the North Carolina men's tennis team faced a road trip this weekend that began at Boston College and ended with a showdown at No. 9 Notre Dame.
The Tar Heels swept Boston College 7-0, but faced more resistance against Notre Dame, where they eked out a 5-2 win.
Though North Carolina earned two victories, the team did not emerge unscathed. Freshman Brayden Schnur lost for just the second time as a Tar Heel, dropping sets two and three against No. 29 Greg Andrews of Notre Dame on Sunday.
After not losing a match for the first two months of his North Carolina career, No. 10 Schnur lost twice in the span of 10 days, but he said he isn't overly surprised that his matches are getting tougher.
"ACC, for tennis, is the strongest conference in the country," he said. "I'm playing better players now, and I knew it was going to happen."
Schnur said he feels he's playing fine, but there are still some issues that need to be worked on. He's been having difficulty with his serve recently, he's got a few injury concerns and, perhaps most importantly, he's still adjusting to the switch between indoor and outdoor play.
Fellow freshman Ronnie Schneider noted the importance of getting outdoor experience now, especially with some big outdoor matches coming up.
"It would have been tough not playing an outdoor match for a couple weeks going into a tough match against Florida State and Miami, so it was nice to go outdoors today," Schneider said after the Notre Dame match.
