Oct. 2, 2007

TULSA, OKLA. - Benjamin Carlotti and Chris Kearney of the University of North Carolina's men's tennis team continued to advance in the qualifying singles phase of the Polo Ralph Lauren All-American Tennis Championships Tuesday morning at the University of Tulsa. The All-American Championships are part of the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's annual collegiate grand slam.

If Carlotti and Kearney win their matches on Wednesday they will advance to the main draw of the championships.

Carlotti and Kearney won in singles for the second straight day. Carlotti, a senior from Paris, France, defeated Matt Brown of Baylor 6-4, 6-3. Carlotti will meet Kean Feeder of Boise State Wednesday at 9 a.m. in the third round.

Kearney dispatched Matthias Wellermann of Ole Miss 7-6(5), 6-2. He will go on to play Dmytro Petrov of Oklahoma in the third round. Match time is 10:30 a.m.

Lenny Gullan, after pulling off a major upset Monday in the first round, lost to Christoph Mueller of Rice, 6-0, 6-0. David Stone of the Tar Heels fell to No. 11 seed Nate Schnugg of Georgia 7-5, 6-2 in the second round of qualifying singles.

In consolation qualifying singles, Stefan Hardy bounced back from a first-round loss to defeat Tulsa's Albert Jou 6-3, 7-5.

In doubles play Tuesday in the first round of the qualifying tournament, UNC's Clay Donato and Stefan Hardy defeated The Citadel's Danny Dossetor and James Eason (Seeded No. 9-16) by a 9-8 score. Donato and Hardy fell in the second round by an 8-6 score to a doubles team from NC State ranked No. 6 in the qualifying phase.

Taylor Fogleman and Chris Kearney of the Tar Heels lost in the first round of qualifying doubles to Oleksandr Nedovyesov and Dmytro Petrov of Oklahoma 8-5.

On Wednesday, Carlotti and Kearney will seek to join the UNC doubles team of Lenny Gullan and David Stone (ranked No. 18 nationally) in the main draw of the Polo All-American Championship. UNC doubles teams have had great success in this tournament the past two years which Raian Luchici and Brad Pomeroy reaching the finals in 2005 and Lenny Gullan and David Stone reaching the quarterfinals in 2006.