After a tough loss to Duke, the men's tennis team hit the road. First they battled the heat of Florida State. Then they challenged the skill of North Carolina. The first they survived; the second proved to be too much.

The Deacs defeated the No. 50 Seminoles 6-1 March 30, but fell to the No. 29 Tar Heels 4-3 April 3. The loss, only the team's third of the season, is the second in its last three games.

"Florida State was a real question mark for us," Assistant Coach Shawn Heinchon said. "That's a tough place to play and a long trip. We did a great job of getting through that match.

"Against Carolina, we were just outplayed. It was the worst match we've played all year, and that's really a tribute to how well they played."

Playing their fifth match in eight days, the Deacs fought off the Seminoles and the Tallahassee heat to rebound from their loss to Duke. The team swept doubles play and took five of six singles matches to clinch their 5-1 victory.

"We tried to get things back after Duke, and put the loss behind us," sophomore David Loewenthal said. "We got the doubles point early, and everyone did a super job of getting through their singles as cleanly as possible."

Loewenthal and freshman D.J. Spice won their singles matches in straight sets at the No. 1 and No. 3 spots. While junior David Bere, junior Mike Murray and senior Justin Kaufmann showed great resolve, outlasting their opponents in tough third sets.

"The combination of traveling down there, playing in the heat and getting the victory is really impressive," Heinchon said.

With the win at Florida State, the Deacs appeared to be returning to top form as they traveled to North Carolina. However, despite winning the doubles point early, the Deacs lost four out of six singles matches to fall 4-3 to the Tar Heels.

"Once we won the doubles point we felt good about where we were," Heinchon said. "Then the Carolina guys came out and really took it to us with their singles."

Loewenthal and junior Trent Brendon beat the Tar Heels No. 1 duo Greg Archer and Marcio Petrone 8-6 and Murray and Spice won the No. 2 doubles match 8-3 to give the Deacs an early advantage.

After the transition, however, Carolina got off to some good starts and didn't quit. Brendon and Bere won their singles matches for the Deacs, but North Carolina proved too much. The Tar Heels went up on four of the six courts, and went on to win those matches in straight sets in order to clinch victory.

"It seems like after we got the doubles point we became a little bit lazy," Loewenthal said. "Then things didn't go our way, and in a matter of minutes we were down."

"This is the first time we've won the doubles point and been beat in four out of six singles matches all season," Heinchon said. "Now we realize that we can lose singles matches. This is a reality check for us."

With the win and the loss, the Deacs move to 14-3 overall and 4-2 in the ACC. UNC is tied with Duke for first in the ACC, while the Deacs fall into fourth behind Florida State.

"In a strange way, this alleviates a lot of pressure for us and allows us to focus on getting better for the rest of the year," Heinchon said. "We know if we beat a team at the end of April (in the ACC Tournament) it will erase any loss we've had."

The team travels to Clemson April 5 to take on the Tigers, then returns home to face South Carolina April 10.

"We need to really focus on playing well against Clemson," Heinchon said. "If we get careless and take things for granted, we could be in a dogfight and have pressure on us. We control our own destiny."