Sports > March 27, 2008

By Hailey Robbins | Staff writer

The No. 29 men’s tennis team finished the March 21-23 weekend with three wins to advance their overall record to 12-6, 3-1 in the ACC. Soundly defeating the No. 53 ranked University of Maryland Terrapins 6-1, the Deacs clinched their second ACC win during the March 21 match.

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Sophomore Andrew Brasseaux prepares to serve the ball in the doubles match with senior partner Carlos Salmon. Brasseaux and Salmon lost the match 9-8 (1). (Kelly Makepeace/Old Gold & Black)

Senior Mariusz Adamski and sophomore Jason Morgenstern, matched for their first time at No. 3 doubles gave the Demon Deacons the first edge over the Terps with their 8-6 victory.

At No. 2 doubles, sophomore Andrew Brasseaux and junior Carlos Salmon soundly defeated Maryland’s nationally ranked pair, pulling an unexpected upset with their 8-4 victory.

No. 6 freshman Jon Wolff and No. 3 Adamski increased the Deacon lead to 3-0 after their singles matches.

Junior Cory Parr, sophomore Steven Forman and Morgenstern cemented the victory over the Terps with their victories in Nos. 1, 2 and 6 singles play, respectively.

The following day, the Deacons faced two more home matches against Boston College and Elon, expanding their March 21 victory to a perfect 3-0 run over the weekend.

The Deacons showed their fiery spirit in the first match up of the morning, a 10 a.m. game against Boston College, shutting out the ACC rival Eagles 7-0. The Eagles fell to 10-6 overall and 0-4 in ACC play with this loss.

Parr, Adamski, Wolff and Morganstern all sealed their singles victories in the first two sets, dominating by at least four points in each set.

Salmon rallied after losing his first set, coming back and winning the next two sets consecutively to win his match at No. 5 singles.

Brasseaux secured the Deacon victory with his decisive two set victory at No. 6 singles.

Boston College secured one lone victory in No. 2 doubles against Brasseaux and Salmon. Senior Charles Sartor and Parr, No. 1 doubles, and Morganstern and Adamski, No. 3 doubles, both brought home Deacon victories.

In the third and final game, a mere few hours after the decisive victory against Boston College, the Demon Deacons rallied once more and defeated Elon 5-2.

The lone Deacon losses of the match were at No. 2 and No. 6 singles and No. 1 doubles.

“Andrew Brasseaux kept a good attitude in practice and waited for his time to show what he can do,” Head Coach Jeff Zinn said.

“He clinched the fourth point for us against Elon and the coaching staff is hoping that he will continue that trend.”

The men’s tennis team looked to increase its ACC record to 4-1 with a home match against Duke March 26.

“Duke is such a good program and always is highly ranked in the country. That being said, this is one of the hardest working teams I have had at Wake Forest. There are still two months left in the season and we want to be at our best in the NCAA Tournament,” Zinn said.

The team was able to pull off a close win, 4-3 over the Duke Blue Devils. The match came down to the final deciding game, where Brasseaux beat Duke competitor Jared Pinsky 6-1, 7-6.

The Deacs lost the doubles competition, dropping two of the three games. Only the top pair of Parr and Forman, No. 14 in the nation defeated their Duke opponents.

In singles competition, No. 59 Parr lost to Duke’s No. 51 David Goulet, 7-5, 6-3, however Forman pulled out a win at the No. 2 slot in three games.

Wolff, Morgenstern and Brasseaux also came out on top in their respective games.

Next, the team faces another ACC opponent in Clemson.

The game will take place at 5 p.m. March at home.