Sports > April 19, 2007

By Greg Mantell | Staff writer

Friday the 13th turned out to be more emotional than scary as the 11th-ranked Wake Forest men’s tennis team came back to win a thrilling match against the No. 33 Miami Hurricanes, 4-3, and to set a program record for single-season wins with 20.

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Freshman Steven Forman prepares to serve the ball to his opponent during a recent match. Forman defeated his Hurricane opponent April 13. (Kelly Makepeace/Old Gold & Black)

The Deacons, however, would falter in their final match of the season on April 15 against the 25th-ranked Florida State Seminoles, losing 4-3.

With the team trailing 3-2 on that emotional Friday night in Leighton Tennis Stadium, senior Andrew Hamar and freshman Jason Morgenstern simultaneously squared off against FSU’s freshmen J.C. Whitner and Barnabas Carrega respectively.

Hamar won a long first set tiebreaker, 7-6, but lost the second set, 3-6. Morgenstern lost his first set against Carrega, 3-6, forcing the young Deacon to mount a comeback.

However, the freshman was up to the task, winning the final two sets handily to clinch the match, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Hamar followed by winning his marathon match against Whitner with a final set victory, 6-1.

The Deacs grabbed the early momentum with freshman Steve Forman winning the first singles match of the evening, 6-3, 7-5.

However, the Deacons suffered upsets in their remaining singles events, as senior Todd Paul (ranked sixth in the nation) lost to 20th ranked Luigi D’Agord, and 52nd-ranked Cory Parr fell to No. 55 Daniel Vallverdu. Both lost in straight sets by scores of 4-6, 6-7.

Junior Mariusz Adamski was also upended, losing to the Hurricanes’ Josh Cohen, 0-6, 2-6.

However, the Deacons would redeem their struggles in singles matches with stellar play in doubles, as the pairing of Paul and Adamski upset Miami’s eighth-ranked paring of D’Agord and Cohen, 8-6.

Hamar and freshman Andrew Brasseaux also scored a key victory by defeating Whitner and freshman Hector Nieto, 8-4.

The team’s success in doubles was instrumental in bringing home the win for Wake.

With their victory over Miami, the men’s team notched their 20th win of the season, and set a new record for wins in a single season, surpassing the old record of 19 set by the teams of 1976 and 1980.

The win also clinched a fourth-place seed and a first round bye for the Demon Deacons in the ACC Tournament.

The Deacs, however, wavered at home on Senior Day against the No. 25 Seminoles on, April 15, losing 4-3.

The day was not without triumph though. All-American Paul defeated FSU’s Ytai Abougzir in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2, and tied a school record for most career singles wins with 106. He now shares that record with David Bere, who graduated in 2003.

The team’s other star players, Parr and Hamar, also contributed big wins as they beat No. 94 Jean-Yves Aubone, 7-6, 1-6, 10-7 in a super tiebreaker, and Maciek Sykut, 7-6, 6-4, respectively.

However, the team’s two stellar freshmen, Morgenstern and Forman, struggled in their singles matches, as Morgenstern lost to Miami sophomore Chris Choler, 6-4, 6-1, and Forman fell to ’Cane junior Sam Chang, 6-2, 6-1.

Although the 29th-ranked pairing of Paul and Adamski defeated FSU’s Jonathas Sucupira and Chang handily, 8-3, the other two doubles teams could not repeat the success they had on Friday.

Both teams of Parr and junior Charles Sartor, as well as Hamar and Andrew Brasseaux, lost in heartbreaking matches to the Seminoles’ pairings of Ytir Abougzir/Bradley Mixson and Sykut/Aubone, both by a score of 9-7.

The No. 11 Demon Deacons (20-5, 7-4 in the ACC) are now preparing for their first match in the ACC tournament April 20th in Cary, N.C., facing off against the winner of first round match between Boston College and Clemson.

The Deacs trounced the Boston College Eagles earlier this season on April 1, 7-0, but lost in their last match against the Tigers in South Carolina.