By Riley Vance —

Newly No. 49-ranked men’s tennis (5-5, 1-4) hosted No. 1 UNC (9-0, 3-0) Mar. 5, and suffered a 4-1 loss.

The Cards lost the doubles point as UNC took over courts one and three.

Junior Fabien Salle and sophomore Matthew Fung fell 6-1 to UNC’s Benjamin Sigouin and Rinky Hijikata.

Louisville fought back on court two as junior Sergio Hernandez and senior Tin Chen secured a 6-4 win over Brian Cernoch and Adam Neff (UNC).

The doubles point went to UNC as Mac Kiger and Josh Peck (UNC) defeated juniors Josh Howard-Tripp and Alex Wesbrooks.

UNC carried their energy into singles winning over all courts except one.

The match on court five was completed first as Kiger (UNC) defeated Fung 6-3, 6-3.

Hernandez put Louisville’s only point up on the board with an impressive 7-6, 6-2 win over UNC’s Cernoch.

Wesbrooks fought but came up short in the third set of a tiring match against UNC’s Logan Zapp (4-6, 6-2, 6-1).

The match was clinched when No. 71 Chen fell 7-5, 7-6 to No. 55 Hijikata (UNC).

Matches on courts two and four were left unfinished.

Salle split sets with No. 41 Sigouin (UNC) and was tied at 2-2.

Howard-Tripp had just split sets with No. 100 Peck (UNC) and was heading into the final set.

The Cards face another tough matchup against Duke on Sunday, March 7 at 12 p.m. at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center.

The match will be taking place outside, and fans are encouraged to come with face coverings on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Final Scores:

Singles

  1. #55 Rinky Hijikata (UNC) def. #71 Tin Chen (LOU) 7-5, 7-6
  2. Fabien Salle (LOU) vs. #41 Benjamin Sioguin (UNC) unfinished, 4-6, 6-4, 2-2
  3. Sergio Hernandez (LOU) def. Brian Cernoch (UNC) 6-4, 7-6
  4. Josh Howard-Tripp (LOU) vs. #100 Josh Peck (UNC) unfinished, 6-7, 6-2
  5. Mac Kieger (UNC) def. Matthew Fung (LOU) 6-3, 6-3
  6. Logan Zapp (UNC) def. Alex Wesbrooks (LOU) 4-6, 6-2, 6-1

Order of Finish: 5, 3, 6, 1

Doubles

  1. Benjamin Sioguin/Rinky Hijikata (UNC) def. Fabien Salle/Matthew Fung (LOU) 6-1
  2. Sergio Hernandez/Tin Chen (LOU) def. Brian Cernoch/Adam Neff (UNC) 6-4
  3. Mac Kieger/Josh Peck (UNC) def. Josh Howard-Tripp/Alex Wesbrooks (LOU) 6-4

Order of Finish: 1, 2, 3

Photo Courtesy of U of L Athletics