Carolina's Men's Tennis Team Hosts First Ever NCAA Regional
May 12, 2004
2004 UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA NCAA TOURNAMENT MEN'S TENNIS NOTES
Probable North Carolina Line-up (No. 15 ITA Ranking, 22-4, ACC 7-1)
Carolina's Men's Tennis Team Hosts First Ever NCAA Regional Carolina's Men's Tennis Highlights/Notes In 2004 * North Carolina men's tennis player Nick Monroe (Olathe, Kan.) has received a singles invitation to the 2004 NCAA Men's Tennis Championship which will begin May 26 at the University of Tulsa. This is the second consecutive year that Monroe will compete in the NCAA singles tournament. He was an alternate last year and then was added to the field on the day before the tournament started. This year Monroe received one of the four automatic bids given to singles players from the Mideast Region. He currently has a singles record of 32-8 this season and is ranked 29th nationally in singles by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Monroe will also compete in the doubles phase of the tournament with Tar Heel junior Geoff Boyd (Atlanta, Ga.). This will be Boyd's first ever trip to the NCAA Championships as an individual participant. The Monroe-Boyd doubles duo has compiled a record of 20-4 this year. They are currently ranked No. 17 nationally in doubles by the ITA. Boyd and Monroe were tapped for their bid of one of two team's from the Mideast Region who copped automatic bids to the Championships.
* Carolina has been invited to the team championships of the NCAA Tournament for five straight years and 12 times in the last 13 years. The Tar Heels have been in the team tournament of the NCAA Championships in 10 of the 11 years since Sam Paul became the UNC head coach. The Tar Heels also went to the tournament as a team in 1992 and 1993 when Coach Paul was Allen Morris' assistant coach at Carolina. The only year in the recent span the Tar Heels did not make the tournament was 1999 when they were 11-14. Carolina also made the Team Tournament in both 1977 and 1978. Prior to 1977, the NCAA Tournament was a flighted championship with teams earning points as their players advanced to through the singles and doubles brackets. The Tar Heels are 7-13 in dual matches in the NCAA Team Tournament since 1977 but they are looking for their first win since beating Ball State 4-1 in the opening round of the 2000 NCAA Championship. * Carolina has an all-time record of 25-17 since the ACC Tournament went from a flighted format to a team format in 1986. UNC is 1-0 in opening round matches, 11-7 in quarterfinal matches, 8-3 in semifinals and 3-5 in championship matches. UNC was also 2-2 in consolation matches in 1986, 1988 and 1989. There was no tournament in 1987. Carolina is 6-0 against NC State in tournament play with the last meeting being a 4-0 Tar Heel victory in the quarterfinal round of the 2004 tournament. Carolina is 4-1 against Georgia Tech in ACC Tournament play with the last meeting a 4-3 Tar Heel victory in the 2002 championship match. Carolina is 4-5 against Clemson in ACC Tournament play with the last meeting a 4-2 Clemson victory in the quarterfinals of the 2004 tournament. In ACC Tournament play, UNC is 2-6 against Duke, 1-1 against Florida State, 2-0 against Maryland, 3-4 against Virginia and 3-0 against Wake Forest. * The 2004 season featured the best beginning by a Tar Heel team in 28 years. Carolina was 20-3 in its first 23 matches this season. That's the best record since the Tar Heels opened the 1976 season with a 21-2 ledger. UNC goes into the NCAA Tournament at 22-4 overall. * Academic Aces. The men's tennis team achieved the highest cumulative grade point average of any men's Olympic sport team at Carolina (2.8) during the fall and spring semesters of the 2003-04 school year. Senior Ben Aiken is the team's Academic Captain. * SEC Sweep. Carolina is 3-0 this season against teams from the Southeastern Conference, which is regarded as the nation's toughest tennis conference. Even more impressively, all three matches were played away from Chapel Hill. * ACC Players of the Week. Senior Nick Monroe (twice) and sophomores Brad Pomeroy and Raian Luchici were tabbed as ACC Players of the Week in 2004. Carolina had four ACC Players of the Week in 2004, more than any other school. Nick Monroe was named player of the week February 16 and April 5, Pomeroy was co-player of the week March 8 and Luchici was player of the week March 29. * National Rankings. Nick Monroe and Geoff Boyd entered the national rankings for the first time this season in doubles at No. 22 and have climbed to No. 17. Boyd and Monroe are 20-4 overall and 7-1 in the ACC. They were named All-ACC as the No. 1 doubles flight champions. Monroe is now ranked No. 29 in the national singles rankings. Carolina is ranked No. 15 this week nationally in the team rankings. * Brad Pomeroy (Asheville) and Jonathan Janda (Shelby), both North Carolina natives, have made tremendous impacts on the team in their first years in the starting line-up. Janda and Raian Luchici are 12-3 at No. 3 doubles and were responsible for clinching the doubles point in three of the last five matches of the regular season. Janda and Luchici were named All-ACC at No. 3 doubles. Prior to this year, Brad Pomeroy had played just five singles matches during his UNC career. This year, he has compiled an overall singles record of 29-6 (22-3 this spring). Brad is 8-2 in three-set matches and incredibly has come back from a set down to win seven of those eight matches. * Nick Monroe, Geoff Boyd, Jonathan Janda and Raian Luchici were named to the 2004 All-Atlantic Coast Conference team. Monroe was named to the team for the third successive year while Boyd, Janda and Luchici are first time All-ACC honorees. * Sam Paul was named the 2004 Atlantic Coast Conference Coach of the Year. This was the fourth time in his 11-year career that Paul has won the award. Paul and Jay Lapidus of Duke are the only two coaches to win the award in the first decade of the New Millennium. Paul won in 2000, 2002 and 2004 and Lapidus in 2001 and 2003. Paul led his team to an overall record of 22-4 this season and a share of the ACC regular season title with a 7-1 mark. In 11 seasons at the helm of the Tar Heel men's tennis team, he has posted an overall record of 171-94 while going 63-24 in ACC dual match play. Paul now ranks fifth in conference history in career league regular-season wins. He has now led the Tar Heels to a top three finish in the ACC regular-season standings in nine of his 11 years as UNC head coach. * UNC won the 2002 Atlantic Coast Conference title, marking Carolina's 25th title and the first crown since 1992. Both the men's and women's teams won ACC titles in 2002, the second double ACC title for Carolina and first since the 1977-78 school year. Carolina's 25 ACC men's titles rank first among league schools. Clemson and Duke are tied for second with 11 titles each. * The Heels finished with a 7-1 regular-season ACC record. UNC has had a winning record in the ACC regular season in 14 of the last 16 years. * Carolina finished tied for first in the Atlantic Coast Conference in the regular season standings with Virginia. The Heels have finished either first, second or third in the ACC regular season standings in 14 of the past 16 years. * Three of the Tar Heels' four losses this season have been to Top 15 nationally-ranked foes. * Carolina has played 14 of its first 26 dual matches this year against nationally-ranked teams. * Sam Paul is now in his 15th season at North Carolina. He came to Chapel Hill as an assistant coach in 1989 and became head coach in 1993. His career record as head coach is 171-93 including 63-26 in ACC regular season matches. * In 13 of the past 15 years, Carolina's #1 singles player has earned All-America honors and/or participated in the singles phase of the NCAA Championships. * UNC senior Ben Aiken ranks as one of the top student-athletes at Carolina. He recently received the Athletic Director's Scholar-Athlete for men's tennis for the second straight year. * Senior Nick Monroe is currently ranked in a tie for second in career singles wins at Carolina. He heads into the NCAA Tournament with a career record of 96-42 and is tied with Paul Harsanyi (96-41) for second place. David Caldwell is the all-time leader at 116-41, followed by Monroe, Harsanyi, Tripp Phillips (95-38) and Brint Morrow (89-46). * Seniors Ben Aiken, Andy Metzler and Nick Monroe serve as tri-captains of the 2004 Tar Heels. * Since 1990 when Sam Paul came to Carolina as assistant coach, UNC has a 115-40 record against opponents from the ACC including matches played in the regular season, ACC Tournament and NCAA Tournament. During that time UNC is 15-8 against Clemson, 6-15 against Duke, 15-3 against Florida State, 17-5 against Georgia Tech, 16-1 against Maryland, 20-0 against NC State, 13-5 against Virginia and 13-3 against Wake Forest. * UNC has achieved a national ranking in the Top 30 at some point in the season in 14 of the last 15 years. Carolina's highest ranking this year was 13th on April 13. * The Tar Heels have won 25 ACC championships in school history which is more than any other league school. Clemson has won 11 titles, Duke 11, Maryland two, NC State two and Virginia one. * The Tar Heels are 1356-330-8 in dual matches all-time and 284-69 in ACC regular season dual matches all-time. * Coach Sam Paul's' .645 career winning percentage ranks second amongst active ACC men's tennis coaches. His 63 ACC regular season dual match wins rank fifth all-time behind only Chuck Kriese of Clemson, Don Skakle of North Carolina, Jay Lapidus of Duke and Doyle Royal of Maryland. Paul has one more ACC win than UNC's Allen Morris. Paul served as an assistant to Morris for four years from 1989-93. * Carolina's all-time record against its ACC opponents since the Tar Heels started playing tennis in 1908 include 38-22 against Clemson, 83-27 against Duke, 22-6 against Florida State, 26-12 against Georgia Tech, 51-8 against Maryland, 77-5 against NC State, 71-15 against Virginia and 79-9 against Wake Forest. * Carolina has won at least five ACC regular season matches in 14 of the past 16 seasons and at least six ACC regular season matches in 11 of those 16 seasons. * UNC had four players named All-ACC this year--Nick Monroe, Raian Luchici, Geoff Boyd and Jonathan Janda. The last time Carolina had that many players on the All-ACC Team was 1992 when Joe Frierson, Bryan Jones, Roland Thornqvist and Chris Mumford were all named to the All-ACC Team.
* Senior Nick Monroe has had a distinguished career as a Tar Heel. He ranks in a tie for second in career singles wins in UNC history at 96-42 and was named All-ACC in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Monroe played in the NCAA Tournament in both singles and doubles in 2003 when he won the Arthur Ashe Mideast Region Sportsmanship and Leadership Award. Monroe is currently ranked No. 17 in doubles and No. 29 in singles in the nation. During his senior year he has defeated 10 nationally-ranked players including four ranked in the Top 25. He has started 91 of a possible 92 dual matches at UNC and has never started lower than No. 4 in the lineup. The 2004 ACC Indoor Championship singles finalist, he has been named ACC Player of the Week three times. Monroe has improved his singles record each of his four years at Carolina, going 18-13 as a freshman, 23-11 as a sophomore, 23-10 as a junior and 32-8 as a senior.
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