UVA Men’s Tennis Falls to Kentucky 4-3 in Thrilling Championship Rematch

The Virginia men’s tennis team lost a match for the first time since February 19th, 2022. The No. 1-ranked and defending national champion Cavaliers had their 29-match winning streak snapped on Friday evening at Boar's Head as No. 5 Kentucky came to Charlottesville and defeated Virginia 4-3 in a three-hour thrilling rematch of the 2022 NCAA Championship Final. 

In doubles competition, Inaki Montes and Mans Dahlberg gave Virginia an early edge with a 6-3 victory over Jaden Weekes and Alexandre LeBlanc. The Wildcats answered as Taha Baadi and Alafia Ayeni took down UVA's Ryan Goetz and Bar Botzer on court 1, 6-3. Joshua Lapadat and JJ Mercer defeated Virginia's Jeffrey von der Schulenburg and Alexander Kiefer 6-4 on court 3 to capture the doubles point for Kentucky. That was the first point the Cavaliers had surrendered this season, having won each of their first six matches via clean sweeps. 

The Wildcats extended their lead to 2-0 as Charlelie Cosnet handed Alexander Kiefer a 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 loss on court 5. Virginia finally got on the board as Inaki Montes earned a 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) victory over Alafia Ayeni on the top court. Jeffrey von der Schulenburg added a 7-5, 6-4 win vs. Joshua Lapadat, the No. 14-ranked singles player, on court 2 to even the overall match score at 2-2. 

The Cavaliers recorded a third-consecutive point on court 5 as freshman Douglas Yaffa bounced back after losing the first set to JJ Mercer and came back to win 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, making the score 3-2 in favor of UVA. Another Virginia freshman Mans Dahlberg won the opening set of his match, but ultimately fell 2-6, 7-5, 6-1 to Kentucky's Jaden Weekes on court 4. 

That left the fate of the match to be decided on court 3 between Kentucky's Taha Baadi and Virginia's Ryan Goetz. Baadi took the first set and Goetz won the second and the third set went to a tiebreaker, with Baadi ultimately prevailing 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4) to clinch the match for the Wildcats, who avenged their loss to the Cavaliers in the NCAA finals. 

After ending the 2022 season on 23-match winning streak and then beginning the 2023 season by winning six in a row, Virginia's 29-match winning streak finally came to an end with the loss to Kentucky. Now 6-1 on the season, UVA will return to action against Radford on Sunday at 5pm at Boar's Head. 

To stay up to date on all Virginia Cavaliers sports news, follow CavaliersNow on social media:

Facebook: @CavaliersNow
Twitter: @CavaliersNowFN