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March 11, 2000
NORFOLK, Va. – The 20th-ranked Virginia men’s tennis team split a pair ofmatches in the first day of competition of the East Coast Great EightShootout on Saturday in Norfolk, Va. The Cavaliers were upset by66th-ranked Arkansas-Little Rock 3-2 in the first round, but bounced backto shut out 44th-ranked Middle Tennessee State 3-0. A four singles, onedoubles format was used in the first day of the tournament.
Top seeded UVa was upset by eighth-seeded and 66th-ranked Arkansas-LittleRock 3-2 in the first round Saturday morning. The Cavaliers won only oneof four singles matches as well as the lone doubles match.
Third-year Brian Vahaly (Atlanta, Ga./The Lovett School), who is ranked No.4 in the nation, was UVa’s only singles winner as he defeated Marra 6-1,6-3 at #1 singles. Virginia’s other win came in the lone doubles match asthird-years Robert Abendroth (Lafayette, La./St. Stephens) and Brian Hunter(Chapel Hill, N.C./Chapel Hill) defeated Diaz and Baca 6-4, 6-1.
The Cavaliers dropped the other three singles matches to Arkansas-LittleRock. Third-year and 50th-ranked Huntley Montgomery (Chapel Hill,N.C./Chapel Hill) was upset by Iniesta 6-3, 6-1 at #2. In the #3 singlesmatch, fourth-year John Winter (Richmond, Va./St. Christopher’s) wasdefeated by Ucube 7-6, 4-6 7-5. Second-year Jason Romesburg (Waynesboro,Va./Waynesboro) fell to Pettigrosso 6-1, 6-2 at #4 singles.
In its second match of the day, Virginia posted a 3-0 win over 44th-rankedand fourth-seeded Middle Tennessee State. The ‘Hoos won the #2, #3, and #4singles matches to earn the victory. The #1 singles match was notcompleted and the doubles match was not played.
Montgomery bounced back from his loss earlier in the day to defeat OliverForeman 6-0, 4-6, 6-4. Winter also avenged a loss in the morning matchwith a 6-0, 6-0 win over Robert Gustaffson. Abendroth picked up theCavaliers’ other point with a 6-3, 7-6 win at #4 singles over MichaelLancefield.