Virginia Tennis Teams Protect Home Court, Go 4-0 in Weekend ACC Matches

It was a banner weekend for the Virginia tennis teams, who hosted four matches at Boar's Head Sports Club in Charlottesville and successfully defended home court with four victories, three of which came against ranked opponents. The No. 11 UVA women's tennis team defeated No. 24 Notre Dame 4-3 on Friday and beat Louisville 6-1 on Sunday, while No. 12 Virginia men's tennis earned a pair of impressive shutouts, sweeping No. 9 North Carolina 4-0 on Friday and No. 13 Duke 7-0 on Sunday. 

Men's Tennis (Friday): No. 12 Virginia 4, No. 9 North Carolina 0

In a rematch of the last two ACC Championship finals, the Cavaliers proved to be too much for the ninth-ranked Tar Heels, who also came into the weekend undefeated in ACC play. Chris Rodesch and William Woodall won 6-0 and Inaki Montes and Ryan Goetz won a hard-fought tiebreaker 7-6 (7-5) on the top court to win the doubles point for Virginia. 

In singles play, Jeffrey von der Schulenburg defeated UNC's Benjamin Kittay 6-2, 7-5 on court 4 and Alexander Kiefer won 6-2, 6-2 against Henry Lieberman on court 6 to make it 3-0 in favor of UVA. The top court featured a showdown between No. 27 Chris Rodesch of Virginia and No. 22 Ryan Seggerman of North Carolina. Seggerman took the first set via tiebreaker, but Rodesch bounced back to win 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-4 to complete the 4-0 sweep for UVA. Inaki Montes, Ryan Goetz, and Mans Dahlberg were each leading their singles matches when the match concluded. 

Women's Tennis (Friday): No. 11 Virginia 4, No. 24 Notre Dame 3

The UVA women's tennis team eventually ended up winning the match, but for a long time, it certainly didn't look like that was going to be the case as Notre Dame won the doubles point and jumped out to a 3-1 lead. Melodie Collard and Julia Adams won their match 6-2, but the Fighting Irish took courts 2 and 3 to claim the doubles point. 

No. 71 Page Freeman of Notre Dame dominated the top court match against No. 44 Julia Adams 6-1, 6-0. Natasha Subhash got Virginia on the board with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Julia Andreach, but Bojan Pozder defeated Sara Ziodato 6-3, 6-3 on court 5 to give the Fighting Irish at 3-1 lead. 

With their backs against the wall, the Cavaliers stood tall. Elaine Chervinsky took down Yashna Yellayi 7-6 (7-4), 6-2 on court 3 and Melodie Collard defeated Nibi Ghosh 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) on court 6 to tie things up at 3-3. That left the match to be decided on court 4, where Hibah Shaikh ultimately prevailed in a hard-fought match against Carrie Beckman, winning 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) to complete the comeback for UVA. 

Women's Tennis (Sunday): No. 11 Virginia 6, Louisville 1

As compared to Friday's come-from-behind thriller, Sunday's contest against Louisville was a much more comfortable win for the Cavaliers. Natasha Subhash and Elaine Chervinsky won 6-2 and Melodie Collard and Julia Adams won 6-4 to earn the doubles point for Virginia. 

In singles action, Natasha Subhash and Melodie Collard each picked up 6-2, 6-2 wins on courts 2 and 6, respectively. Sara Ziodato had the honor of clinching the victory with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 win over Maria Campos on court 5. The Cardinals scored their lone point of the match on the top court with Andrea Di Palma taking down Julia Adams 6-2, 7-5, but Hibah Shaikh and Elaine Chervinsky each claimed three-set victories to finish off the 6-1 win for Virginia. 

Men's Tennis (Sunday): No. 12 Virginia 7, No. 13 Duke 0

The undefeated weekend was completed on Sunday afternoon as the UVA men's tennis team dominated No. 13 Duke 7-0. The start of the match couldn't have gone better for the Cavaliers, who won the doubles point and the first set of every singles match. Inaki Montes and Ryan Goetz won 6-1 and Alexander Kiefer and Jeffrey von der Schulenburg won 6-4 to clinch the doubles point. 

Inaki Montes cruised to a 6-2, 6-0 win on court 2 and Mans Dahlberg won 7-6, 6-2 on court 5 to make it 3-0 Virginia. Alexander Kiefer secured the win with a 7-6, 6-4 victory on court 6. Jeffrey von der Schulenburg defeated Pedro Rodenas 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 and Ryan Goetz won 6-3, 6-7, 6-2 on court 4 to make it 6-0. The most significant singles result came on the top court, as No. 25 Chris Rodesch managed to take down No. 12 Garrett Johns of Duke 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 to complete the sweep for the Cavaliers. 

The Virginia men's tennis team has now won 32-consecutive matches in ACC play and improves to 14-4 overall and 6-0 in ACC play this season. UVA hosts Virginia Tech on Wednesday at 3pm for the Commonwealth Clash. 

The UVA women's tennis team is now 12-3 and 5-1 in ACC play and will look to keep the momentum going with a pair of road ACC matches next weekend at Miami on Friday and at No. 17 Florida State on Sunday. 

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