Sports > March 20, 2008

By Alex Botoman | Staff writer

It was a difficult two weeks for the men’s tennis team, as they dropped a conference match to No. 13 UNC-Chapel Hill and lost twice in Texas over Spring Break. The Deacons now stand at 9-6 (1-1) on the season. Wake got off to a rough start in their match against Tar Heels on March 19. At the No. 3 doubles position Wake Forest’s senior Mariusz Adamski and junior Carlos Salmon were no match for Tristan Heinrich and David Stone, losing 8-2.

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Sophomore Steve Forman prepares to serve the ball during an indoor home match. Forman beat UNC’s No. 78 Stefan Hardy in singles play . (Bryce Stallings/Old Gold & Black)

At No.1 doubles the Deacs No. 14 ranked team of sophomore Steve Forman and junior Cory Parr scored a dominating 8-3 upset of the Tar Heels’ No. 4 ranked tandem of Taylor Fogleman and Chris Kearney

However, UNC clinched the doubles point with an 8-4 win by No. 43 Clay Donato and Stefan Hardy over sophomore Jason Morgenstern and freshman Jonathan Wolff, to take the 1-0 lead in the match.

The Heels quickly clinched the match, winning three straight-set singles matches. At the No. 4 position, Salmon lost 6-1, 6-2 to Donato. At No. 5 singles, Wolff dropped a 6-3, 6-3 decision to Fogleman. No. 73 Kearney clinched the match for UNC with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Adamski at the No. 3 position.

With only their pride left to play for, the Deacons rallied to win the remaining three matches, leaving the final match score at 4-3. At No. 6 singles, Morgenstern dropped the first set quickly to Will Pyler, but pulled back to win the second and win the match tiebreak, taking the match 1-6, 6-3, 1-0(5).

At No. 2 singles, No. 59 Parr was up 6-1, 5-4 on No. 112 Benjamin Carlotti, when Carlotti retired due to an injury. At No. 1, No. 82 Forman picked up yet another big individual win, knocking off No. 78 Hardy 2-6, 6-2, 6-2. Forman has been a bright spot for Wake Forest this year, winning 10 out of his past 11 matches.

On a spring break trip to Texas, the Deacs dropped back to back 4-3 decisions to No. 19 Texas A&M and TCU.

In the Texas A&M match, Wake won the doubles point and picked up a 6-0, 6-0 win from Morgenstern to jump out to a 2-0 lead.

However, the Aggies weren’t ready to fold as they picked up wins over Parr and Wolff to even the match at 2-2. Forman picked up another three set win at the No. 2 position to put the Deacs in the position to clinch, but Adamski and Salmon both lost tough three setters to give the win to A&M.

In the match against TCU, the Deacons again took the doubles point, but singles losses by Salmon and Forman put Wake in a 2-1 hole.

Forman’s loss snapped his personal nine match winning streak.

The Deacs once again pulled ahead 3-2 behind victories from Adamski and Parr, but in their second straight match failed to capitalize on their opportunity to put the match away.

Morgenstern and Wolff lost at No. 6 and No. 5, respectively, to cement another disappointing loss for Wake.

The Deacons will look to rebound as they take on two ACC opponents in Maryland on March 21 and Boston College on Mar. 22, both at home.

They will also play Elon on March 22 following the match with the Eagles.