Constantinos Djakouris clinches deciding match for UNC men's tennis

Associate head coach Tripp Phillips walked over to junior Constantinos Djakouris to deliver a harsh but necessary message. 

Lock in. Get your head in the game. 

UNC and Virginia Tech were tied at three a piece and Djakouris was the last hope. He was down two points with the third set tied 5-5. 

“All the other matches finished and the guys came over and they were cheering so loud,” Djakouris said. “And I was like 'I have to pull it through for them, I can’t give up now.' And I kept it going.”

And that’s exactly what Djakouris did.

In the UNC men's tennis team's 4-3 win over Virginia Tech on Friday night at the Chewning Tennis Center, Djakouris clinched the match for the Tar Heels in a tight singles match. The come-from-behind victory in the ACC opener marked North Carolina's 11th straight win against the Hokies dating back to the 2015-16 season. 

“Just proud of our team for how hard they fought,” head coach Sam Paul said.  

But the UC Davis transfer's comeback win almost never happened.

Following two errant hits in the breakpoint game of the third set by Virginia Tech’s Ilyas Fahim, Djakouris fought back to knot the game up at deuce. 

After receiving the serve, he crushed the ball down the line and just out of the reach of Fahim.

He pumped his fist in excitement.

His celebration was short-lived. 

The chair umpire called it out-of-bounds. Djakouris threw his hat down in protest while UNC players stormed off the bench area in outrage. The chair umpire appealed to the baseline judge. 

After a few heated moments the call was overturned, giving Djakouris the game and a 6-5 lead third set lead. 

“Hearing the call of it being out, it was a tough moment," Djakouris said. "But thankfully it got overruled."

North Carolina got off to a slow start, losing their first two doubles games to give Virginia Tech the doubles point. 

In the first set of singles, UNC’s troubles continued. Little was going North Carolina's way.

At one point the Tar Heels were down in four of six matches but crawled back to win three first sets. They still had a mountain to climb to come back, though. 

Djakouris was one of the Tar Heels that lost the first set, falling 6-2. 

“I tried to basically get rid of the first set in my mind and just start new,” Djakouris said. “New set, I still have to win two sets from here. It doesn’t matter that he already won the first one. Just keep going. Play as like the match just got started.”

He won the second set, 6-3, to force the tie-breaking third. 

Securing the 6-5 breakpoint, Djakouris didn't leave the final game to chance. 

Three hours of play. All eyes on court No. 2.

Djakouris met the moment. After he secured the final point to hand North Carolina the match, Djakouris’ teammates mobbed him. They hugged. They yelled. Djakouris cracked a grin. 

“It just exceeded all expectations today, was so fun clinching for the boys. The celebration after was amazing,” Djakouris said. “Moments to remember for sure.”

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