Weekend roundup: Two men's tennis wins, a softball series loss and more

Sophomore first baseman Kiersten Licea (1) hits a home run during the game against Pittsburgh at G. Anderson Softball Stadium on March 1, 2020. UNC won 1-9.

With several of North Carolina's fall sports teams adding spring seasons to their 2020-2021 schedules, The Daily Tar Heel will be recapping some of the action from this spring's busy weekends in roundups for some events on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Men's Tennis: UNC 4, Miami 3 (Friday)

The No. 3 North Carolina men’s tennis team (16-2, 8-2 ACC) defeated Miami (7-8, 4-5 ACC), 4-3, after accumulating three singles and two doubles wins.

Seniors Mac Kiger and Simon Soendergaard won their doubles match, 6-4, against Miami’s Benjamin Hannestad and No. 32 Franco Aubone. After the Hurricanes won the second doubles match of the day, the Tar Heels finished out the doubles side with a 6-3 win from No. 66 junior Brian Cernoch and first-year Peter Murphy.

Cernoch also won his singles match with a decisive score of 6-3, 6-1. Then, Kiger added on to his first win on the day with a 6-4, 6-3 final score in his singles match. First-year Logan Zapp then won the third singles match for the Tar Heels 6-3, 6-4.

The North Carolina doubles advantage broke the singles tie and allowed the Tar Heels to earn their 16th win of the season.

The Tar Heels will take on Florida State on Saturday, April 17 at 2 p.m. in Chapel Hill, looking to get its final regular season win before ACC Championships begin.

Men's Tennis: UNC 4, Florida State 2 (Saturday)

The No. 3 North Carolina men’s tennis team (17-2, 9-2 ACC) beat Florida State (8-15, 2-10 ACC), 4-2, in their final match of the season at Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center in Chapel Hill on Saturday.

The Tar Heels managed to stay ahead of the the Seminoles early with two wins in doubles matches to earn a point for the overall score, and were able to draw the first singles win from junior Brian Cernoch. Despite this, Florida State pitched their comeback, winning the next two singles matches to tie the overall score at two wins per team.

Seniors Josh Peck and Mac Kiger ended the match and the Seminoles opportunity at a comeback win by knocking out the next two singles matches and securing a 4-2 victory on Senior Night.

The Tar Heels will begin their play in the ACC Championships as the No. 3 seed with a 9-2 conference record in Rome, GA. on April 23.

Ike Bryant, staff writer

Men's Golf: UNC 6th

The North Carolina men’s golf team traveled to downtown Phoenix this weekend to compete in the 48th ASU Thunderbird Collegiate Invitational. North Carolina came in ranked 16th out of a total 17 teams competing.

The Tar Heels played a 36-hole course Friday afternoon followed by 18 holes on Saturday.

On Friday, freshman standout Peter Fountain and sophomore Austin Greaser led the team’s success. Greaser was only 1 shot under par for a while, but pulled out three late birdies to secure his score of 67. Fountain had five early birdies and shot 31 on the first nine holes, matching Greaser’s score of 67. The Tar Heels ended Friday afternoon tied for sixth place.

On Saturday, Greaser finished 3-under-par for an overall score of 68, while senior Austin Hitt shot under par for three consecutive rounds. The team’s collective efforts led them to a sixth-place finish in the invitational.

With the last regular season tournament under their belts, the Tar Heels are set to prepare for the ACC Championship next weekend.

Kelly Baker, staff writer

Softball: UNC wins one of three in series against No. 19 Pitt

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The UNC softball game endured a tough series against Pitt starting April 16.

The Tar Heels kicked off the opening game with an over-the-fence home run by Junior Kiersten Licea. But the tight game resulted in a 7-6 defeat for North Carolina.

UNC continued the series with against Pitt with a doubleheader. While the second game remained scoreless for three innings, North Carolina took the lead during the sixth inning. Then Pitt earned two runs in the bottom of the seventh to win the game, 6-5. In the second game of the doubleheader, the Tar Heels suffered another tough 6-4 loss.

For the final game of the series on April 18, North Carolina lost 11-7, moving their overall record to 12-19 and ACC record to 8-13.

Next weekend, the UNC softball team will face Duke for one of its final ACC series.

Caroline Prendiville, staff writer

Rowing: vs. Clemson and Oklahoma (Saturday)

The North Carolina rowing team competed against host Clemson and Oklahoma at Lake Hartwell on April 17.

The Tar Heels, with 65 points, trailed the Tigers (81) and the Sooners (70). However, UNC’s 1v4 team, comprised of junior coxswain Lara King, sophomore Taylor Gregitis, junior Amelia Locklear, junior Sydney Tumey and sophomore Nicole Van Liew finished second with a time of 8:09.6, more than 19 seconds ahead of Oklahoma.

North Carolina’s 3v8 team also came in second, clocking in at 7:54.2. The 2v8 team and the varsity eight crew each came in third place with times of 7:37.3 and 7:08.6, respectively.

The Tar Heels will next compete on Friday and Saturday, April 23-24 at the Lake Wheeler Invitational, co-hosted by UNC and Duke in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Eve Maddock, staff writer

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