RICHMOND, Va. -- Junior Marcio Petrone defeated Florian Marquardt (ranked #55 in the nation) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to clinch North Carolina's 4-3 win over Virginia Commonwealth Saturday afternoon. VCU has five of six starters back from last year's squad which lost to Stanford 4-1 in the NCAA Finals.

The match began inauspiciously for the Tar Heels as they lost the doubles point for the first time in eight matches. VCU's Daniel Casquero and Fernando Sanchez fought off two match points at number three doubles to edge Carolina's Trystan Meniane and Chad Riley 9-8 and clinch the match's first point.

Carolina was down 3-2 with the last two matches left on court (number one and four singles) in the third set. Sophomore Trystan Meniane defeated Casquero 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 to even the match. Casquero had won 13 times in 17 dual matches for VCU this spring. Minutes after Meniane's win, Marcio Petrone clinched the win at number one singles, defeating a nationally-ranked player for the second match in a row.

Prior to today's match VCU's record at home was 106-7 during Paul Kostin's 10 years as head coach.

"Our guys showed tremendous fight out there today," Coach Sam Paul remarked. "We've beaten this team two straight years now 4-3 and last year they had a great run to the NCAA finals. This win really will help our confidence for the last part of the season."

North Carolina hosts third-ranked Duke on Monday at 3 p.m. The two teams will be battling for first place in the ACC as Duke enters the match with a 7-0 league record, while Carolina is 4-1 in the conference.

#41 North Carolina 4 (9-6)
#34 VCU 3 (13-10)

Doubles

#1 Marquardt/Moser [#6](VCU) d. D. Cheatwood/N. Monroe (UNC) 8-4

#2 G. Archer/M. Petrone (UNC) d. Hoglund/Norin (VCU) 8-6

#3 Casquero/Sanchez (VCU) d. T. Meniane/C. Riley (UNC) 9-8(4)

Singles

#1 Marcio Petrone (UNC) d. Florian Marquardt [#55] (VCU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 *

#2 Frank Moser [#83] (VCU) d. Nicholas Monroe (UNC) 6-3, 6-4

#3 Fernando Sanchez (VCU) d. David Cheatwood (UNC) 6-3, 7-6(5)

#4 Trystan Meniane (UNC) d. Daniel Casquero (VCU) 6-3, 4-6, 6-4

#5 Greg Archer (UNC) d. Mats Norin (VCU) 6-2, 6-4

#6 Chad Riley (UNC) d. Ruben Zrihen (VCU) 6-3, 6-3

* Clinching Match