Two days after defeating N.C. State 4-3 behind a victory from freshman Carl Sundberg, the No. 27 Canes did it again as they beat No. 28 Wake Forest 4-3 Sunday at the Neil Schiff Tennis Center.
Miami (11-6, 4-4 ACC) took an early 1-0 lead over the Deamon Deacons (15-8, 6-3 ACC) on Senior Day by winning two of three doubles matches as the 35th-ranked duo of junior Daniel Vallverdu and Sundberg won 8-4 against No. 11 Cory Parr and Steve Forman. The No. 36 pairing of junior David Rosenfeld and the team’s sole senior Vivek Subramanian easily cruised to an 8-2 victory.
“I was here before Mario [Rincon] or any of these guys were here. From when I first got here my freshman year to now, it’s been an unbelievable trip,” Subramanian said. “I’ve enjoyed every moment of it.”
Despite fifth-ranked Vallverdu’s loss in straight sets to No. 58 Parr, Subramanian’s in the second position and five of six first set points lost in total, the Canes won three of the four remaining singles matches. Rosenfeld gave Miami its first singles triumph against the Demon Deacons with a 6-2, 6-4 victory in the third position.
“Like I said to these guys, even though I lost today I would rather get the win with the team than get the win individually and lose as a team. It’s been fun to watch these guys get so much better,” Subramanian said.
After Wake Forest claimed a brief lead at 3-2, sophomore Barnabas Carrega defeated Andrew Brassoux 1-6, 6-4, 7-5 to tie up the score before Sundberg’s clinching match which he took 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.
“It feels unbelievable today to come from behind,” Sundberg said. “Even if I won the last match, it was also the other guys playing well. Barney [Carrega] won in the tiebreaker in the last set and he kept me going.”
Before the impending ACC Championship, Miami heads to the road for two key regular season matchups.
Although Subramanian didn’t win in his final home singles match, his effort was at its usual high level.
“I’ve only known this team with Vivek in it and I’m going to miss him very much,” Rincon said. “He’s the glue to the team and has been for the past four years. It has been an amazing experience to have him fight on the court and just give his 110 percent every match.”
Christina De Nicola may be contacted at c.denicola@umiami.edu.