North Carolina Men's Tennis

Carolina Tennis History Carolina Men's Tennis season in 2012, the Tar Heels are likely to pass the all-time 1,500-win mark, the most dual victories for any collegiate tennis program. Carolina's tennis history is rich in nature. The University of North Carolina men's tennis program began its march to greatness in 1908. The 2012 season will mark 104 years since that inaugural Carolina team played the Tar Heels' first varsity season. Because three teams were not fielded in the early years of the program, the 2010 campaign marked the 100th season of UNC tennis and Carolina performed admirably in its Centennial season. In its 102nd The results of the past 22 years have been cause for celebration for Tar Heel head coach Sam Paul and his players. Carolina's proud tennis program regained momentum in the 1990s similar to that from its early years in the nascent decades of the 20th century. It seems only appropriate that the first decade of the 21st century matched the accomplishments long associated with the sport of tennis in Chapel Hill. The Tar Heels have not only won more dual matches than any other school in history but it's 79.5 percent all-time winning rate is the highest of any of the 13 men's sports at UNC. It is third overall amongst the 28 sports programs at Carolina, trailing only women's soccer and women's swimming and diving. Over the course of the past 22 seasons during the assistant coaching and head coaching tenure of Sam Paul, the Tar Heels have claimed seven Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season or tournament championships (1991, 1992, 1996, 2004 regular season; 1990, 1992, 2002 tournament); earned 13 final Top 25 national rankings from the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 2000, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011); and merited 19 spots in the NCAA Tournament field (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011). The 2007 squad received the school's highest seed ever in the NCAA Tournament at No. 6; the 2004 and 2006 teams were both seeded No. 11 in the NCAA Tournament. The Tar Heels hosted an NCAA regional in 2004 for the first time since the tournament went to its current 64-team format in 1999. The 2006 team also hosted an NCAA regional and beat Clemson in the regional final to advance to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the first time since 1993. In 2008, the Tar Heels defeated Duke while hosting a regional to advance to the Sweet 16 for the second time in three years. Carolina has always had an especially rich tradition in the sport of tennis, featuring a long list of great coaches, players and teams. Over the past 104 years, since the first team was fielded in 1908 and during 101 successful seasons, UNC teams have compiled a phenomenal won-loss record that can rarely be rivaled in all of college athletics. nick Monroe, unc class of 2004, won a bronze medal for the united States in the 2011 Pan American Games. Page 30 Some Astonishing Numbers The Tar Heels' overall dual-match record stands at 1,494-383-8, a winning percentage of .795. It was during the 2002 season that North Carolina reached the point in its history where it had 1,000 more wins than it had losses, an amazing feat of long-term excellence. The milestone came on February 9, 2002 when UNC defeated West Virginia 7-0 at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center. UNC's record stood 1,307-307-8 at the end of that day. Going into the 2012 season, UNC teams have won 1,111 matches more than they have lost, a simply remarkable accomplishment for a team that averages playing a mere 25 matches a season. Since the first Tar Heel team was fielded in the spring of 1908, 88 of 101 North Carolina teams have posted winning records, five have had break even seasons and only eight have had losing records and even one of those was good enough to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. During three years in the early part of the 20th Century, the University fielded no team at all and in only five of the eight all-time losing seasons did the team actually play more than two matches on its entire schedule, finishing 3-4 in 1945, 8-9 in 1957, 14-16 in 1986, 11-14 in 1999 and 11- 12 in 2003. Nineteen of the 101 teams have finished their campaigns undefeated, the last time coming in 1970 with an 18-0 mark. During the late 1930s and early 1940s, Carolina teams put together a 67-match winning streak, a collegiate record in its time which was eventually broken by William & Mary in 1949. Twenty-seven Carolina teams have finished the season ranked among the nation's Top 25 teams, topped by a tie for third place at both the 1947 and 1948 NCAA Championships. The University of North Carolina also played host to the 71st National Collegiate Tennis Championships in 1955 on the Campus Courts in Chapel Hill. Since the NCAA abandoned flight play and went to a team tournament format in 1977, Carolina has made the NCAA field on 21 occasions — in 1977, 1978, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. Success in the Atlantic Coast Conference has also been the rule of the day during Carolina's vaunted tennis history. Since the conference's formation during the summer of 1953, Tar Heel teams have won a total of 25 league championships, including 23 outright crowns. In fact, in 57 years of Atlantic Coast Conference competition, the Tar Heels have finished outside of the upper division of the league standings only six times and have been either first or second in the standings in 40 of those 57 years and first, second or third in 48 of the 57 campaigns. The Tar Heels' cumulative regular-season dual-match ACC record caesar cone ii was a senior on coach John kenfield's first Tar heel team in 1928. The cone- kenfield Tennis center is named after the former Tar heel star. stands at an amazing 334-93, a winning percentage of .782. Carolina players also won 86 ACC singles championships and 37 doubles titles before flight champions were eliminated after the 2001 season. The Birth of Tar Heel Tennis The roots of tennis competition at the University of North Carolina date back to 1884 when the University Tennis Club was founded. In 1894, the club began intercollegiate competition in the sport. It was not until 1908, however, that letters were first awarded to the players and the sport was granted varsity status at the University. From 1908 through 1927, the team functioned without a head coach and in 1911, 1915 and 1919 no team was fielded at all. Beginning in 1920, Tar Heel teams have faced outside competition for 90 successive years. Program continuity kicked in as of the 1927-28 season when John Kenfield arrived as head coach and Tar Heel tennis fortunes began to soar quickly. Kenfield answered an advertisement placed by the University Athletic Association in the American Lawn Tennis Journal. The ad sought Carolina's first full-time tennis coach. Kenfield's decision to respond to the query proved to be a stroke of luck for Carolina and not a half-bad decision for himself. Kenfield, then 35 years old, was working in Chicago as both a tennis instructor at the Lake Shore Country Club in suburban Glencoe, Ill., and as a vice president of the Curtiss Candy Company, an enterprise he'd helped organize in the Windy City. In 1921, while at Curtiss Candy Company, Kenfield named the Baby Ruth candy bar, one of the biggest sellers of all time, as well as the Butterfinger bar. The young candy company wanted a catchy name for its new confectionery treat featuring chocolate and peanuts to compete with the popular O'Henry bar of its leading

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