CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Wofford men's tennis team picked up their first win of the 2019 spring season, defeating Bucknell, 6-1, after falling to No. 6 UNC, 6-0, on Saturday afternoon. The win moves the Terriers to 1-2 overall heading into their two-week break in the schedule.
 
"UNC is strong and that was proven today," said head coach Rod Ray of the nationally-ranked Tar Heels. "We hit a lot of good shots and tried hard, but weren't quite ready to withstand the pressure they gave us. Although we didn't get the results we wanted, we're improving every day."
 
The No. 6 nationally-ranked Tar Heels started the day taking doubles play with wins in the No. 2 and No. 3 position. Omar Williams and Bryce Keim would fall to UNC's Benjamin Sigouin and Brian Cernoch, 6-2, while Javi Casasolas and Lucas Cerbelli fought hard, but ultimately came up short, 6-3, to Mac Kiger and Simon Soendergaard.
 
John Crawford and Julian Chousa competed in the No. 1 doubles, however, the match went unfinished, finishing 4-3 in UNC's favor.
 
UNC would continue to thrive entering singles play, pushing a 4-0 lead with wins over junior Lucas Cerbelli (No. 2), senior Kyle Barr (No. 6), and junior Julian Chousa (No. 1). Sophomore Omar Williams fell in the No. 3 singles, 6-3, 6-2, to UNC's Josh Peck, as the Tar Heels would wrap the match up with a 6-2, 6-3, win over classmate Edu Villar in the No. 4 position to complete the 6-0 sweep.
 
Freshman Bryce Keim battled with UNC's Simon Soendergaard in the No. 5 singles, competing hard in the second set after dropping the first (6-3), though, the match went unfinished, 5-4, also in the Tar Heels' favor.
 
The Terriers bounced back in their second match against Bucknell, jumping out to an early 1-0 lead in doubles play. "6 to 1 is a good outcome against Bucknell," added Ray of their second match. "The amount of energy we came out with in doubles speaks to the character of our guys."
 
Chousa and Crawford saw their first doubles win of the season, 6-3, in the No. 1 position, as Cerbelli and Casasolas followed with a commanding win in the No. 3 position, 6-1.
 
The Terriers never looked back, heading into singles play with a vengeance from their earlier match, picking up five singles wins to take the 6-1 victory.  
 
Wofford's lineup for singles consisted of the following: Julian Chousa (No. 1), Lucas Cerbelli (No. 2), Edu Villar (No. 3), Omar Williams (No. 4), Javi Casasolas (No. 5), and Diego Losada (No. 6). Bucknell's lone singles win came in the No. 1 position.
 
"Lot of good things happened in singles. We set up and and finished points well," said Ray. "We've got some things we need to sharpen but that's to be expected this time of year."
 
Next, Wofford will travel to Greensboro, North Carolina to take on the Richmond Spiders on Saturday, February 2. First serve is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at the UNCG Tennis Courts.