Members of the North Carolina men’s tennis team competed in the Wake Forest Invitational this past weekend.
The event was the team’s fifth since the start of October. UNC had four people play in the tournament, including sophomores Ladd Harrison, Kavir Kumar and Simon Soendergaard and junior Anu Kodali. All Tar Heels competed in singles tournaments, and Harrison and Kodali teamed up for the A1 Doubles bracket.
Several players had impressive showings in the tournament, including Harrison and Kodali, who made it to the semifinals both individually and as a doubles tandem.
Kodali won his first match in two games and then had to rally to defeat UNC-Charlotte’s Constandinos Christoforou after laying an egg in the second, 6-4, 0-6, 6-4. Kodali eventually fell in three sets to top-seeded Antonio Cembellin from Indiana University, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Kodali then lost in two sets against Duke’s Spencer Furman, 7-5, 7-5. He ended the tournament in fourth place.
After defeating Sam Rice of UNC-Charlotte in the first round of the singles draw, he won his next game against Liberty’s Alex Poynter, 6-3, 6-1. In the semifinals, though, Wofford’s Kyle Barr ended Harrison’s run with a two-set victory.
Harrison then went on to beat Adam Schmidt of George Washington 6-4, 6-2 to claim third place for the C2 singles tournament.
Soendergaard had one decisive win against Wake Forest’s Alan Gadjiev but ultimately dropped the match in three sets, 6-4, 1-6, 6-1. Soendergaard finished strong after his loss, however, winning out his next two matches in two sets apiece to claim the fifth place in the A2 singles tournament.
Kavir Kumar lost in his second match against UNC-Charlotte’s Ben Wayand in three sets, and then later lost his next match against Edu Villard of Wofford.
