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Sports Monday Bpr yj[ SB V • - - -’^m-^ ??,?!^i*iflp|p|pp|fcgßHH^^^r DTH/EMILY SCHNURE UNC's Matt Tanner pitches Saturday in the Tar Heels' 10-2 loss to the Tigers. Tanner allowed two earned runs in four innings of relief. Phillips Beats Nation's Best; UNC Tops VCU Tar Heels Clinch Win in Doubles By lan Gordon Staff Writer One moment, North Carolina men’s tennis player Tripp Phillips was jumping up and down, pumping his fist and high-fiving mem bers of the home crowd at Cone-Kenfield Center. Phillips, UNC’s top-ranked singles player, had reason to ceie brate. He had just defeated Virginia Commonwealth’s Daniel Andersson, the nation’s No. 1 player, 6-4, 6-2. Men’s Tennis VCU 3 UNC 4 But the next moment, Phillips was lying down on the court, writhing in pain due to cramps in his legs. Luckily for the Tar Heels, Phillips’ work was done for the day. Later, as Phillips lay on the grass beside the lower courts, North Carolina freshman Trystan Meniane com pleted his three-set win against VCU’s Mats Norin to clinch the team’s 4-3 defeat of the No. 16 Rams. No. 25 UNC used Phillips’ upset victory and solid doubles play to extend its winning streak to nine matches. The Tar Heels are now 12-2. “I think Tripp is one of the top players in the country, and today he came out and showed it,” UNC’s Greg Archer said. “I think Michigan State, Florida Spar For National Title The Spartans, who lost to Duke in the Final Four last year, are looking for their first crown since 1979. Associated Press INDIANAPOLIS - Michigan State and Florida both started the season in the Top 10 and never dropped far below. Now they’re the only teams left. I Similarities over. ; While the Spartans are most effective m a half-court game, where they can crash the boards and be physical, the Gators prefer to play at warp speed, he’s belonged up there this entire year, and today he got his chance against a good player and won. When you get to that level, anyone can win.” Indeed, Phillips hung with Andersson throughout the first set of their match, jump ing to an early 2-0 lead. After falling behind 3-2, he then charged back to secure the 6-4 first-set win. The match was charged with intensity throughout, with Phillips vocally questioning several of Andersson’s out-of-bounds calls. That energy manifested itself in Phillips' second-set play. The Far Heel senior won five straight games after being down 2-1 to pull out the 6-2 win. It was only Andersson’s fourth loss in 42 matches on the year. “He’s a great player,” UNC coach Sam Paul said of Andersson. “I think it’s the first time we’ve ever beaten him at a dual (match) in four years. He has got so much experi ence.” Phillips’ victory was one of the three North Carolina singles triumphs on the day. Besides Meniane’s 7-6, 5-7, 6-1 win, junior Chad Riley defeated VCU's Mattias Hoglund 6-3, 6-1. Because Tar Heels Assaf Drori, David Cheatwood and Marcio Petrone all lost their singles matches, the doubles point was cru- See MEN S TENNIS, Page 13 using a I O man rotation and lull court pressure. Michigan State (31-7) was the only No. 1 seed to reach the Final Four and has lived up to the role in its bid for the national championship. The Spartans won every game in the NCAA tournament by at least 11 points, including Saturday night’s 53-41 victory against Wisconsin. Florida, seeded fifth, got a first-round scare from Butler before wearing down higher-seeded teams - Illinois, top ranked Duke and Oklahoma State - with its hectic pace. The Gators (29-7) Tar Heels Top No. 1 Tigers Twice Senior Chris Elmore pitched the UNC baseball team past Clemson 5-2 on Sunday to improve his record to 3-0. By Joe Disney Staff Writer It wasn’t pretty, to say the least. But in a game full of errors and bloop hits, North Carolina’s baseball team did what it needed to get the win. UNC took the rubber game of the three-game series against Baseball j --- - * Clemson 2 UNC 5 Clemson 10 UNC 2 Clemson 0 UNC 6 No. 1 Clemson 5-2 at Boshamer Stadium Sunday afternoon. With the ~ . win, the Tar Line Scores: Heels (27-6,4-5 UNC Takes 2 of 3 in the acc) From Clemson took two out of See Page 13 three against the Tigers (24-6, 4-2) on the weekend, the first time since 1990 that UNC has won a series against Clemson. fpi SSglfi Z 1 "'•' <’ ’’W :■ m ' . \ gggj |PP^ DTH/KATE MELLNIK North Carolina junior Chad Riley rips from the baseline in his 6-3, 6-1 victory against VCU's Mattias Hoglund. Riley and the Tar Heels won 4-3 to improve their season record to 12-2. j M used the same style to end North Carolina’s surpris ing run with a 71-59 win Saturday night. “We like to run, too,” Michigan State coach Tom I/.zo said. “Maybe some of that is our style also. I think we have an under standing for that. I think these guys want to run, too.” The Spartans Florida coach Billy Donovan could become the third man to play in a Final Four and coach a national champ. can get up and down the court, having HHf - wm “1 said to our team that wasn’t the prettiest game we’ve played, but it was probably our best,” UNC coach Mike Fox said. “And that’s because it was such an important game for us. We could not afford to go 3-6 in the league after nine games with six of those at home.” UNC right fielder Matt McCay was 2-for-3 and led off the fifth inning with the series' only home run Sunday. The weekend proved to be an effort by the Tar Heels to overcome them selves and the top-ranked Tigers. Besides dealing with 10 errors as a team, UNC had to face a Clemson pitching staff that had totaled 15 wins and allowed only two home runs corn ing into the weekend. The Tar Heels compensated with great pitching of their owm on Friday and Sunday along with timely hitting and defense. Senior lefty Chris Elmore was one of those Tar Heel pitchers who quieted the Clemson bats. In 5 1/3 innings of work Sunday, Elmore allowed only three hits and two scored more than 80 points nine times this season. In the tournament, however, they have averaged 68.2 with the five starters averaging between 27 and 35 minutes a game and only two reserves averaging more than 10. Florida has averaged 79.4 points in the five tournament games, just off its 84.1 mark lor the season. The 10 Gators who create all that havoc on the floor average between 13 and 31 minutes a game. Michigan Slate starts three seniors, while Florida has one on the team and plays seven sophomores and freshmen in the rotation. “Our youthfulness has won us a lot of basketball games this year,” said Kenyan Weaks, Florida’s lone member of the UNC Earns Shutout Win Vs. Hoosiers North Carolina junior Courtney Zalinski (left) was one of six Tar Heels to win singles matches as UNC beat Indiana 6-0 on Saturday at home. See Page 11. runs, both unearned, to improve to 3-0 on the season. “Chris took the ball and threw a heck of a game against a good team,” fresh man center fielder Adam Greenberg said. “And we needed that.” A key on Sunday was limiting the first three Tigers in the batting order, Brian Ellis, Patrick Boyd and Khalil Greene, to one hit in 12 at bats. Once the game went into the hands of relievers Ryan Earey and Derrick DePriest in the sixth inning, the Tigers could only amount two hits, both sin gles. DePriest earned the save in one inning of work. The majority of the Tar Heel offense came from the bat of right fielder Matt McCay, who went 2-for-3 with two RBI and a home run. McCay’s first RBI, the eventual game winner, came with a single literally off Clemson starting pitcher Ryan Mottl. The ball was redirected off his leg into left field, scoring Tyrell Godwin. The Tar Heels had already scored two runs in the top of the first inning, one on a balk and one on an RBI single by Sean Farrell. The hardest-hit ball of the weekend resulted in North Carolina’s final run. McCay hit a lead-off homer in the fifth inning to left-center field. The blast Class of 2000. “I don’t know if that’s going to be a big problem in this game.” The Spartans were going to use an age-old method to prepare for Florida’s full-court press Monday night. “We always go against six or seven guys in practice, and I’m sure we’ll have a bunch of players out there today,” Michigan State forward Andre Hutson said Sunday. Florida coach Billy Donovan believes people are getting the wrong impression about his team. “People think it’s just running and jacking up 3-point shots,” Donovan said. “We put a tremendous emphasis on See CHAMPIONSHIP, Page 15 INSIDE: ■ Softball team gets sweep of Virginia. Page 13 ■ Men's lacrosse loses to Johns Hopkins. Page 13 ■ Rowers excel in Raleigh. Page 13 answered two Tiger runs in the top of that inning and was the only homer of the weekend. “That was a big swing of the bat, to step up and respond like that,” Fox said. “1 thought he had a good series.” The story was quite different in Saturday’s 10-2 victory by the Tigers. Clemson starterjared Schmidt threw a complete game to get his fourth win of the season. In all. he scattered seven hits and two runs. UNC’s Eric Henderson picked up the loss in three innings of work. He fell to 4-3, with all three losses coming in his last three decisions. “We took the action to them today as opposed to yesterday,” Clemson coach Jack Leggett said. Probably the best game of the series came on Friday night. The series open er came down to a pitching dual between UNC starter Ryan Snare and the Tigers’ Scott Bemey. Snare eventually won out, allowing only two hits and striking out seven. He earned the shut-out win to improve to 6-1. The Tar Heels, already up 3-0, put in the knock out punch with a two-run sin gle by pinch hitter Chris Maples. The Sports Editor can be reached at sports@unc.edu. UNC Shows Hat Tricks To Hokies Five players on the North Carolina women's lacrosse team registered three goals Sunday against Virginia Tech. By Matt Terry Staff Writer There must have been a sale on hats Sunday at Fetzer Field. Five North Carolina players record ed hat tricks as the women’s lacrosse team waltzed past Virginia Tech 18-7 before a crowd of 187. Sophomore attacker Kellie Thompson led the way for the Tar Heels (7-3) with four goals - Women’s Lacrosse Virginia Tech 7 UNC 18 including three in the first half -and three assists. Her passing opened up holes in the Hokie defense and set up her teammates with several scoring chances. “Kelly had a nice game today,” UNC coach Jenny Slingluff Levy said. “She’s coming off a tough Duke game (Wednesday), and she needed to find her rhythm again.” Most of the Tar Heels had tough games against the Blue Devils. But unlike Wednesday’s game, UNC was able to attack the Hokies (3-4) early and often. Thompson opened the scor ingjust 28 seconds into the game. Thompson scored twice more, and Kristin Off and Amy Havrilla each notched goals in a 2:43 span. The Tar Heels led 5-1 less than eight minutes into the contest. “In a lot of our games, we’ve North Carolina senior attacker Kristin Off scored three goals in the Tar Heels' rout of Virginia Tech. been coming out a little bit slow,” 1 hompson said. “We’ve been working on trying to come out at the first whistle and playing the whole 60 minutes. We wanted to do that from the beginning today.” Virginia Tech (3-4) benefited from some lax lar Heel defensive work mid way through the first half and trimmed the lead to 5-4. But after leading 8-5 at hailtime, UNC turned up the pressure. North Carolina allowed only two goals in the second half as its defense constantly pressured the Hokies. Slingluff I,evy said the play of freshman defender Andy Fortino, in particular, See WOMEN'S LACROSSE, Page 13 18
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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April 3, 2000, edition 1
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