Florida State Edges Carolina To Advance To ACC Final
April 23, 2005
CARY, N.C. - Despite getting the 75th and 50th career singles victories from senior Geoff Boyd and junior Derek Porter, respectively, the No. 45 North Carolina men's tennis team fell short in its effort to reach its first Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament Final since 2002 Saturday as No. 25 Florida State outlasted the Tar Heels 4-2 in a highly competitive match at the Cary Tennis Center. The Seminoles improved to 18-6 on the season as they won for the 10th time in the last 11 matches. UNC's loss dropped them to 16-10 on the season but the Tar Heels are expected to receive an at-large bid to the 2005 NCAA Tournament when those invitations are formally extended May 4. Florida State, the No. 3 seed in the tournament, will play the No. 1 seed, Virginia, which is ranked second nationally, for the ACC title Sunday at 11 a.m. Virginia defeated fourth-seeded and 17th-ranked Wake Forest 4-0 in the first semifinal match Saturday. Playing its third match in three days, the Tar Heels were unable to sustain the high level of energy they possessed Friday in their upset of eighth-ranked Duke, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, by a 4-2 score. Duke's loss marked the first time since the tournament went to a team format in 1986 that the Blue Devils have not reach the semifinals. Carolina, meanwhile, became only the second team seeded as low as No. 7 to reach to the semifinals, joining Clemson which did so as a No. 7 seed in 2001. Florida State, which had beaten No. 28 Georgia Tech 4-2 in the quarterfinals Friday, pounced on UNC in doubles and quickly gained wins at the No. 2 spot 8-2 and the No. 3 spot 8-4 to clinch the point. The UNC team of Geoff Boyd and Brad Pomeroy won at No. 1 but that was not enough to overcome a Florida State team which has dominated virtually all its opponents in doubles this season.
The Seminoles carried the momentum into singles and they captured the first set on five courts as it appeared they were going to make quick work of Carolina this afternoon. Eventually, the Seminoles would prevail but not before UNC was able to stay on the court with them for several hours. Carolina senior Geoff Boyd tied the score at 1-1 when he won at No. 3 singles over Jonathas Sucupira 6-4, 6-3. The win was No. 75 in singles in Boyd's career. Florida State then won the next two points. Chip Webb defeated Benjamin Carlotti 6-3, 6-1 at No. 6 singles and No. 29-ranked Mat Cloer downed No. 70-rankd Raian Luchici of UNC at No. 1 singles 6-4. 6-3. The Tar Heels were then in a position where they had to sweep the remaining three matches. Derek Porter brought the score to 4-2 when he capped an amazing comeback to beat Chris Westerhof 1-6, 7-5, 6-3. Porter trailed 5-1 in the second set before he won 10 straight games to win the second set 7-5 and lead the third set 4-0. Porter then held his last two service games to win the match 6-3 in the third, rewarding him with his 50th career singles triumph. The match was decided at No. 5 as Florida State's Jeff Groslimond beat Carolina's Jonathan Janda 6-4, 7-6 with the tiebreaker decided by an 8-6 count. Play was suspended at No. 2 where FSU's Ytai Abougzir won the first set 6-1 and UNC's Brad Pomeroy the second 6-4. Abougzir was up a service break at 5-3 in the third set with Pomeroy serving when play was halted. #25 FLORIDA STATE 4, #45 NORTH CAROLINA 2 |
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