The No. 25 Miami Hurricanes men’s tennis team fell to the North Carolina Tar Heels in a hard-fought 4-3 battle Friday afternoon. This was an evenly matched contest between the ACC teams, and that was evident from the get-go.
The Hurricanes dropped the doubles point after going the distance with all three sets.
UM’s Nacho Serra Sanchez and Leonardo Dal Boni fell 6-3 to UNC’s Diego Jarry and Anthony Wright to start doubles play. But the ’Canes bounced back with a Martin Katz and Antonio Prat win over Vladislav Melnic and Chris Xu, 6-4. It came down to the last set between the Miami pair of Mehdi Sadaoui and Jules Garot versus the UNC pair of Constantinos Djakouris and Nick Mangiapane. And while the UM pair fought until the very end, the Tar Heels won 7-6 to secure the doubles point.
In singles play, the Hurricanes (11-7, 4-5 ACC) fought back immediately as Sanchez defeated No. 115 Xu 6-4, 6-0 to tie the match at 1-1. UNC (12-6, 6-3 ACC) retook the lead after Mangiapane defeated Garot 6-2, 6-3. Miami then took the next two wins to put itself in clinching range of the match, as Prat defeated Constantinos 6-3, 6-3 to tie and No. 41 Katz defeated Melnic 7-6, 6-4 to lead.
Despite being in position to clinch, Miami simply could not close the game, as UNC won the next two to win the match. Wright tied the game for the Tar Heels with a 6-3, 7-6 win over Sadaoui.
It all came down to the final matchup between Miami’s Dal Boni and UNC’s Jarry. And in a fitting way, it went the distance. Dal Boni battled but fell 1-6, 7-6, 5-7 to Jarry to give the Tar Heels the win.
Miami will stay in North Carolina to take on Duke at 2 p.m. this Sunday, hoping to end their road woes.