April 15, 2008
GREENSBORO, N.C. - North Carolina's Chris Kearney and Virginia's Somdev Devvarman have been named Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Tennis Co-Players of the Week for their outstanding performances in the final week of the regular season.
Receiving his first league honor this year, Kearney went 3-0 in doubles and singles action to help the 11th-ranked Tar Heels sweep No. 42 Duke (4-3), No. 50 Georgia Tech (6-1) and Clemson (7-0) in the final week of the regular season. He posted key wins that included a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Duke's Kiril Dimitrov at No. 3 singles to clinch the overall match for UNC and rallied from a first-set loss to hand 78th-ranked David North of Georgia Tech his second dual match loss of the spring season with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 decision. The sophomore from Irvine, Calif., also paired up with Taylor Fogleman in doubles, posting wins at the top position against all three teams.
Devvarman, collecting his fourth conference honor this season, continued his stellar run in the ACC as he led No. 1 Virginia to a pair of wins last week to complete its second consecutive undefeated ACC regular season. The senior sensation recorded two wins over ranked opponents in singles and defeated the nation's 11th-ranked tandem of Cory Parr and Steven Forman from Wake Forest. Devvarman finished league play with a perfect 11-0 record at No. 1 singles and also compiled a 9-1 doubles record at No. 1 with Treat Huey.
Both North Carolina and Virginia earned a first-round bye to this year's ACC Men's Tennis Championship, held at Sanlando Park in Altamonte Springs, Fla. The Tar Heels will face either No. 7 seed Miami or No. 10 seed Maryland on Friday at 12 p.m., while the Cavaliers will start quarterfinal action at 9 a.m. on Friday against the winner of the No. 8 seed NC State and No. 9 seed Georgia Tech match.
