Charlotte Splits Doubleheader

I visited the UNC Charlotte tennis complex on March 7 to see how the Niners would compete against George Washington and later against North Carolina Central. They came into the matches 1-7 and not being too familiar with A-10 teams I thought they would have a tough time with the Colonials, but the match was closer than I thought.

Charlotte started off by winning the doubles point after winning on both courts one and three by a score of 9-7.

In singles Charlotte was able to pull out victories on courts two and four, but that was all they would get in this match as they fell to 1-8 on the season.



I focused my attention on court five, where Charlotte senior Brad Clinard from High Point, NC had a tough time with Alex Sohaili. Clinard went down 6-1 in the first set but was hanging with Sohaili in the second. At one point Clinard was getting a bit frustrated and after putting a forehand in the net he quickly flipped the ball back at Sohaili and caused him to speak out to the USTA official. The official gave a warning to Clinard, but it was petty. When I talked to Clinard after the match he admitted that he shouldn't have flipped it to him the way he did and agreed with the official's position, but I told him I still thought it was a petty moment. Clinard ended up losing the set 6-4.

The match came down to court six where Jesse Hutchinson of Charlotte battled with Arya Vayghan. The two were playing a lot of long points and after they split the first two sets by identical 6-3 scores, things got a lot tighter in the third. Vayghan was able to pull it out 7-6 by winning the tie break 10-3.

When the second match started, I knew the outcome would be a lot different for the Niners. Charlotte grabbed control on all three courts during doubles, but the match on court three wasn't even close. The NC Central team was simply not able to play at a Division I level and they went down easily 8-0. On courts one and two Charlotte won by scores of 8-5 and 8-4.

In singles, I focused on courts four, five and six. On five, Brad Clinard got off to a fast start and won it 6-1. His teammates on four and six were in control in closer matches and both won their first sets. All three of them would go on to win in straight sets. The same was true on courts one, two and three and Charlotte swept the match 7-0.

It's always good to get a win, but I'm sure the Niners players knew that NC Central is a young and inexperienced program and you can't take too much away from this kind of match. It was good to see Charlotte play a close one with GW and it shows that no matter what their record is or how frustrating the season is turning out to be, they will still go out and play their best. That's all we ever want from any team we watch.

Time.