April 9, 2008

North Carolina's 11th-ranked men's tennis team defeated Duke 4-3 Wednesday afternoon at Ambler Tennis Stadium in Durham, N.C. to improve to 17-4 on the season and 7-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The win gave UNC one point in the Carlyle Cup competition, improving UNC's lead in this year's all-sports race to 16-5. UNC went ahead 1-0 in doubles after wins by 10th-ranked Taylor Fogleman and Chris Kearney at No. 1 and then a clinching win at No. 2 by 42nd-ranked Stefan Hardy and Clay Donato. The Tar Heels then won the first three singles matches off the court to build an insurmountable 4-0 lead. Clay Donato won at No. 4 singles to make it 2-0 and then Taylor Fogleman won in straight sets at No. 5 to make it 3-0. The clinching win came at No. 3 where No. 83-ranked Chris Kearney defeated Kiril Dimitrov 6-3, 6-4. Carolina is now 85-30 all-time against the Blue Devils in men's tennis and it was UNC's first win over its arch-rival since April 22, 2005 when the Tar Heels beat the Blue Devils 4-2 in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals. The win by Carolina ended an 11-year regular-season winning streak by the Blue Devils over the Tar Heels. Carolina's last win in the regular season was April 11, 1996 by a 4-3 score at Durham, N.C.