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April 20, 2000
42nd Annual ACC Championship
The Racquet Club of the South-Norcross, Ga.
April 20-23, 2000
The 1999-2000 Season: Virginia currently stands at 15-8 overall and 5-3 inthe ACC. The Cavaliers are the fourth seed in the ACC Championship for thesecond year in a row. UVa was tied in the standings with Clemson, but lostthe head-to-head tie-breaker with the Tigers.
UVa meets Florida State in the quarterfinals of the ACCs on Fridayat 6:00 p.m. FSU leads the all-time series 7-6. The winner faces either#1 Duke, #8 N.C. State or #9 Maryland (depending on Thursday and Friday’sresults) on Saturday at 2 p.m. The finals are scheduled for Sunday at noon.
Fifth Consecutive Upper Division ACC Finish: After a down period in the1990s that saw UVa finish sixth or worse for three straight seasons, theCavaliers have made a progressive rise up the ACC ladder. This season theCavaliers finished with a 5-3 record in ACC play and are the fourth seed inthis weekend’s ACC Championship. This season marks the fifth season in arow that Virginia has finished at .500 or better in the league, the firsttime that’s happened since 1969-74. The period from 1969-74 also marks thelast time until this season that the Cavaliers have finished in the tophalf of the league for four consecutive seasons.
Head Coach Dick Stockton: Dick Stockton is in his second season at the helmof the Virginia men’s tennis program. He enters the ACC Championship witha 25-18 coaching record. No stranger to high level tennis, Stockton hasbrought more than two decades of professional tennis playing experience toCharlottesville. One of the top singles and doubles players in the worldduring his career, Stockton has reached the semifinals of Wimbledon and theFrench Open and the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open. He is a five-timemember of the U.S. Davis Cup team, including the championship squad in1979. Throughout the 1980s and ’90s, he continued to earn many prestigioushonors, including winning titles at the U.S. Open 45-and-over doubleschampionship in 1999 and 1996, and the Wimbledon 45-and-over doubles titlein 1997.
Virginia in the ACC Championship: The Cavaliers are the fourth seed in theACC Tournament for the second yera in a row after being the third seed in1998 and 1997. (The current ACC Tournament format began in 1990.) In 1998,the Cavaliers reached the tournament finals for the first time. Theydefeated Wake Forest 4-2 in the quarterfinals, North Carolina 4-2 in thesemifinals before falling to top-seeded Duke 4-2 in the finals.
Virginia has advanced to the semifinals six times (1990, ’94, ’96,’97, ’98, ’99), including the last four years.
Home Sweet Home: The Cavaliers were 10-1 at home this season with theironly loss coming at the hands of sixth-ranked Duke 6-1 on April 16. Thatloss snapped Virginia’s 12-match home winning streak which dated back tothe 1998-99 season. UVa was 7-0 at the Sheridan Snyder Tennis Center and3-0 indoors at the Boar’s Head Sports Club this year.
5-3 Three of the Last Four Years: Virginia has finished 5-3 in the ACCthree of the past four years (1997, 1998 and 2000). The 5-3 records inthose three seasons is UVa’s best since the 1984 Cavalier squad compiled a5-2 league mark.Cavaliers in the ITA Rankings: Virginia is ranked 43rd in the April 12WingspanBank.com Rankings. UVa has been as high as 20th in the rankings(Feb. 23, Mar. 1 and Mar. 8) this year.
Virginia has defeated seven ranked teams this season (all rankingsas of the match date) – #16 North Carolina, #42 and #49 William & Mary, #44Middle Tennessee State, #50 Ohio State, #55 Florida State, and #64 WakeForest. Six of UVa’s seven losses this spring ahve been to rankedoppoents. The Cavaliers’ lone loss to a non-ranked opponent was to staterivalVirginiaTech (4-3).
Third-year Brian Vahaly is ranked fifth nationally among singlesplayers in the current ranking. He was 16th in the final 1998-99 rankingsand ninth the 1999 preseason ratings. Vahaly has been ranked as high asthird this year. Third-year Huntley Montgomery is currently ranked 51st inthe nation. He was ranked 76th in the preseason.
Vahaly and Montgomery are ranked 23rd in doubles. The duo wassixth in the preseason rankings and finished 1998-99 ranked 18th.
Virginia vs. Florida State During the 2000 Regular Season:UVa, then ranked 38th, defeated 55th-ranked Florida State 4-3 on March 26in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers won all three doubles matches to earnthe doubles point and won three singles matches to secure the victory.
In singles play, No. 5 Brian Vahaly defeated No. 28 Xavier Lucsan6-0, 7-5 at #1. John Winter was victorious at #3, defeating Jay Travis6-4, 6-1. The most exciting match of the day was at #4 singles, whereTommy Croker came back after being down one set to defeat the Noles’ NoahSchnell, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and clinch the UVa victory. No. 39 HuntleyMontgomery fell to FSU’s Michael Ingham 6-4, 6-2 at the #2 slot. BrianHunter, at #5 singles, fell to Chad Mooney 6-3, 6-3. Jason Romesburg lostto Rodrigo Laub at #6, 6-3, 6-7, 6-1.
Vahaly Sets Singles Victory Record: Brian Vahaly set UVa’s season recordfor singles victories when he won his 30th singles match (against just fourlosses) of the season on April 16 vs. Duke’s Doug Root. Vahaly shared theprevious record of 29 singles wins with Justin Smith. Vahaly, who becameUVa’s first All-American in 1999, was 29-9 last year, while Smith was 29-13in the 1994-95 season.
Vahaly, ranked fifth nationally, advanced to the finals of theReebok/ITA All-American Single Championship in October. He also advancedto the third round of the T. Rowe Price National Clay Courts in September.At the 2000 Rolex National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships inFebruary, Vahaly won a pair of matches, but lost in the quarterfinals.
National Tournaments: In addition to Vahaly playing in the All-Americanand Clay Court and Rolex tournaments, three other UVa players have madeappearances in high-profile tournaments this year. Huntley Montgomeryplayed in the singles of the Clay Courts and then teamed with Vahaly toadvance to the quarterfinals of the doubles tournament. Montgomery alsoadvanced to the finals of the backdraw of the All-American and teamed withVahaly to earn a berth in the quarterfinals of the doubles tourney.
At the ITA Regionals in November, fourth-year John Winter andthird-year Tommy Croker won the tournament to earn an automatic bid to the16-team Rolex National Indoors.