The No. 18 UNC men’s tennis team exacted sweet revenge on No. 20 NC State Sunday afternoon in Raleigh, winning the second match of the season series in comeback fashion, 4-3, and clinching the No. 3 seed in next weekend’s ACC Championship in Georgia.

The Tar Heels dug themselves into a hole early, dropping the doubles point to the Wolfpack and then two of the first three singles matches. Trailing 3-1, a loss on any of the three remaining singles courts would doom Carolina to its second loss to NC State this season.

Logan Zapp kept UNC alive after dropping the second set in his singles match, winning 6-1, 3-6, 6-2. Brian Cernoch then avenged an earlier doubles loss by dominating the third set in his singles match, shutting out his NC State opponent 6-0 to even the overall match at 3-3.

That meant the result was up to Peter Murphy against the Wolfpack’s Fons Van Sambeek. Murphy had won the first set in a tiebreak but, like Zapp and Cernoch, dropped the second set. Fortunately for the Tar Heels, Murphy mirrored those earlier matches in the third set as well, winning 6-2 to give UNC the victory.

The match avenged an earlier 4-3 defeat to the Wolfpack in Chapel Hill. After struggling in February, Carolina closed out the regular season by winning six of its final seven matches to clinch a bye in the ACC Championship. UNC finishes the regular season 14-7 overall and 9-3 in ACC play. The Tar Heels will face either Virginia Tech or NC State for a third time in the ACC quarterfinals on Friday.

 

Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications

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