The No. 20 Hurricanes (2-1) visited the University of Georgia’s Lindsey Hopkins Indoor Facility to take part in the ITA Kick-Off Weekend.
On Saturday morning the Hurricanes had their first loss of the season, falling 4-2 to No. 28 North Carolina (3-0) in non-conference play.
The Tar Heels got on the board with a doubles win and a win over No. 57 Carl Sundberg in singles play. Sundberg lost to No. 36 Clay Donato in straight sets 6-2, 6-2 in the No. 1 position.
Waylon Chin, undefeated in dual match play as a Cane, got the Canes on the board with a three set win in the No. 3 position, beating Stefan Hardy 1-6, 6-3, 6-2. No. 114 Christian Blocker won a tough three set match against Jose Hernandez 4-6, 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (7-4) playing in the No. 2 position.
UNC got the winning point when Andrew Crone beat No. 120 David Simon playing in the No. 6 position 6-2,6-4.
On Monday the Canes faced No. 36 Northwestern Wildcats (4-2) after Northwestern lost its Saturday match against the Georgia Bulldogs. The Canes swept the Wildcards 4-0, quickly overcoming their Saturday loss against the Tar Heels.
The Hurricanes were lead by commanding doubles play in the No. 1 and No. 2 positions. Christian Blocker and David Simon set the tone for their teammates, crushing Northwestern’s Andrew McCarthy and Tobias Reitz 8-2.
Keith Crowley and Hector Nieto debuted in doubles play defeating Joshua Graves and Alex Sanborn 8-6.
Hector Nieto filled out for standout transfer Waylon Chin in doubles play while his brother Santiago Nieto took Chin’s spot in singles play.
No. 57 Carl Sundberg got the second point for the Hurricanes beating Joshua Graves 6-4, 6-2 and obtaining his seventh victory of the season. Keith Crowley finished out the score with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Alex Sanborn.
Christian Blocker was again solid in the No. 2 position winning over Wildcat Sidarth Balaji 6-3, 7-5. Blocker remains undefeated in dual match play.
Santiago Nieto was not able to debut in singles as the meeting was decided before his match began. David Simon, coming off the deciding loss against North Carolina, was trailing in the first set of his match when it was called off.
The Hurricanes will continue their road trip against Rice on this Sunday.
Debora Rubi may be contacted at drubi@themiamihurricane.com.