Sports > March 6, 2008

By Alex Botoman | Staff writer

The men’s tennis team split two matches on Mar. 1 and scored a close win against N.C. State on March 5. The Deacons were powered by Steve Forman who won all three of his singles matches and extended his team high winning streak to eight matches.

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Freshman Jonathan Wolff returns the ball during the Louisville match Feb. 23. (Bryce Stallings/Old Gold & Black)

The Deacons opened ACC play with a home match against N.C State on March 5. The Wolfpack boasted the No. 6 doubles team in the country in Nick Cavaday and Jason Weinacker.

The Deacs got off to a slow start in the doubles matches. Adamski and Wolff, playing together at the No. 2 position, fell behind early and dropped their match 8-4.

At the No. 1 position, Wake’s Parr and Forman took on N.C. State’s highly touted team of Cavaday and Weinacker. March 5 proved to be a day for upsets as, Parr and Forman went up two breaks early and held on to win 8-5.

At the No. 3 spot, Morgenstern made his doubles debut as he partnered with Salmon. With the Deacs up 6-4, Morgenstern faced a break point on his serve, but rallied to hold and go up 7-4. After a long rally on match point, the Wolfpack player whiffed a volley and the Deacons won the match 8-4, clinching the doubles point.

The singles got off to a rough start for Wake Forest. At the No. 3 position, Wolff got smoked 6-1, 6-0 to knot the match at 1-1.

No. 73 ranked Steve Forman put the Deacs back on top with a 6-3, 6-4 win at the No. 2 match. At No. 1 singles, No. 53 ranked Parr came out on the wrong end of two tight sets, losing 6-4, 6-4.

In the No. 4 match, Adamski was down 5-2 in the first set, but didn’t give up and rallied to win the set in a tiebreak 7-6. In the second set, he pulled away, winning easily, 6-2, to put the Deacons ahead 3-2.

At No. 5 singles, Morgenstern came out strong, dominating the first set and taking it 6-2. However, he started to lose momentum and dropped the set 6-4. In the final set, Morgenstern completely collapsed, and his opponent took the match with a 6-1 win, bringing the match score to 3-3.

Salmon played the deciding No. 6 singles match for the Deacons. The first set was an emotional one that Salmon dropped in a tiebreak 7-6. He went on to win the second, 6-4 and the third, deciding match ended with a Deacon victory, 7-5.

In their first outdoor match of the year, the Deacs dropped a 4-3 decision to the No. 19 ranked Michigan Wolverines. Michigan fielded three doubles teams that were each ranked in the top 50 in the country.

At the No. 2 position, Wake’s team of senior Mariusz Adamski and freshman Jonathan Wolff lost 8-6 to Michigan’s 29th ranked team of Jason Jung and Mike Sroczynski.

Michigan clinched the doubles point with an 8-6 win by the No. 46 team of Andrew Mazlin and Chris Madden over sophomore Andrew Brasseaux and junior Carlos Salmon at the No. 3 spot.

The No. 11 ranked team of Matko Maravic and George Navas completed the doubles sweep for the Wolverines with an 8-7 win in a shortened match over Wake’s No. 42 ranked duo of sophomore Steve Forman and junior Cory Parr at the No. 1 position.

Michigan extended their lead to 2-0 with a 6-4, 6-1 win by Sroczynski over Adamski at the No. 3 singles spot.

The Deacons evened the match at 2-2 with a 6-3, 6-1 win by sophomore Jason Morgenstern over Navas at No. 5 singles and a 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 win by Forman over Maravic at the No. 1 position.

The Wolverines jumped ahead again courtesy of Mazlin’s 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 win over Wolff at No. 4 singles.

The Deacons’ Parr took down Jung 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 at the No. 1 spot to knot the score at 3-3, and put the fate of the dual match in the hands of the No. 6 singles match between Wake Forest sophomore Andrew Brasseaux and Michigan’s Chris Madden.

Madden closed out a decisive 6-3, 6-2 victory to win the match for the Wolverines.

In their second match of the day, the Deacons swept Davidson 7-0.

Parr and Forman posted an 8-5 victory at No. 1 doubles and Adamski and Wolff picked up an 8-6 victory at the No. 2 position.

Salmon and Brasseaux added an 8-6 victory at No. 3 doubles.

The Deacs stormed through the singles matches without dropping a set. Parr won 6-3, 6-4 at No. 1 singles and Wolff chalked up a 6-4, 6-3 victory at the No. 2 spot.

Adamski cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 3 singles, and Morgenstern added a 6-3, 6-3 victory at No. 4 singles.

Salmon won his second singles match of the year with an easy 6-2, 6-1 win at the No. 5 position, and Brasseaux finished the sweep with a 6-1, 6-3 win at No. 6 singles.

The Deacs will travel to Texas to take on Texas A&M Mar. 10 and TCU Mar. 14.