/
.
Virginia Men's Tennis Players Earn National And Regional Rankings
Story Links
June 8, 2000
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Four University of Virginia men’s tennis players have earned year-end rankings for the 1999-2000 season. Rising fourth-years Brian Vahaly (Atlanta, Ga./The Lovett School) and Huntley Montgomery (Chapel Hill, N.C./Chapel Hill) have earned both regional and national rankings, while recent graduate John Winter (Richmond, Va./St. Christopher’s) and rising fourth-year Tommy Croker (Alexandria, Va./St. Stephens) have earned regional rankings. As a team, Virginia is ranked 40th in the final WingspanBank.com Collegiate Tennis rankings and is fifth in the NCAA Division I Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Region II rankings.
The Cavaliers, who earned their ninth NCAA Team Championship bid, finished the 1999-2000 season with a 16-10 record and are ranked 40th in the final WingspanBank.com poll. The ‘Hoos were ranked as high as 19th in the nation for three consecutive weeks in late February and early March. UVa is fifth in the final ITA Region II rankings behind Duke, Virginia Commonwealth, North Carolina and Clemson.
Individually for Virginia, Vahaly had a phenomenal 1999-2000 season. He earned 2000 ITA All-America honors, the second consecutive year he has been selected as an All-American. Vahaly, the 2000 ACC Player of the Year, was one of six men’s players named to the 2000 USA Tennis Collegiate Team as announced by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) and the ITA. Vahaly finished the season rated fifth in the WingspanBank.com Singles rankings and second in the ITA Region II rankings. He was ranked as high as third in the nation during the year. VCU’s Daniel Andersson is the top ranked player in Region II. Vahaly advanced to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Singles Championship before being eliminated. His entry into the quarterfinals is the furthest a UVa tennis player has advanced in the NCAAs since the current 64-player format was adopted in 1977. Vahaly finished the season with a 35-5 singles record and established a UVa record for singles victories in a season.
In doubles play, Vahaly and Montgomery earned a ranking of 31st in the WingspanBank.com ratings. The duo are ranked fourth in Region II. They posted an 18-9 overall record and a 6-2 mark in the ACC as doubles partners and earned a bid to the 32-team NCAA Doubles Championship. The UVa tandem lost in the first round of the NCAAs to the second-seeded Geoff Abrams and Alex Kim of Stanford.
Montgomery finished the year as the 64th best singles player according to the WingspanBank.com poll. He is rated as the 12th best player in Region II by the ITA. In 1999-2000, Montgomery posted a 21-13 overall singles record. He was 13-6 while playing #2 singles for Virginia.
Winter and Croker finished the 1999-2000 season ranked seventh in the ITA Region II Doubles ratings. The duo posted a 19-8 record in doubles play and was the ACC #2 Doubles Flight Champions for the second consecutive year. Winter and Croker posted a 4-3 ACC doubles record this year.