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March 15, 2001
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The # 48 University of Virginia men’s tennis team upset # 33 Tulsa, 4-3, at the Blue Gray National College Classic in Montgomery, Ala. on Thursday afternoon (Mar. 15). The Cavaliers improve their record to 4-1 with the win and advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament where they will face the winner of a match between # 26 Fresno State (the tournament’s second seed) and # 28 Northwestern.
UVa fourth-year Brian Hunter (Chapel Hill, N.C./Chapel Hill) drove the Cavaliers to victory with important wins in singles and doubles. Hunter provided a crucial victory at No. 5 singles for UVa. With two matches remaining on the court, Virginia trailed 3-1. Fourth-year Tommy Croker (Alexandria, Va./St. Stephens) fought his way to a three-set victory over Shri Sudhakara to pull UVa within one point, 3-2. Then Hunter pulled out a 6-4, 7-5 win over Micah Zomer to draw the Cavaliers even.
In doubles, Hunter teamed with partner Jonathan Chou (Newport News, Va./Hampton Roads Academy) to give Virginia the match-winning victory at No. 3 doubles. Hunter and Chou upended Sean Monk and Pawel Sebastyanski, 8-3, to clinch the upset win for UVa.
The match was played in reverse order – with singles first and doubles second – due to a series of rain delays. Had either team clinched in singles, the doubles would not have been contested.
Virginia will face the winner of the Fresno State/Northwestern match at 11:30 a.m. Friday (Mar. 16).
UVa 4, Tulsa 3
Doubles 1. Vahaly/ Montgomery (UVa) def. McGregor/Sudhakara (Tulsa), 8-2.
2. Croker/ Duquette (UVa) vs. Nammar/Zomer (Tulsa) suspended after UVa clinched the match 3. Chou/Hunter (UVa) def. Monk/Sebastyanski (Tulsa), 8-3.
Singles 1. Brian Vahaly (UVa) def. Pawel Sebastyanski (Tulsa), 7-6, 6-2.
2. Dane McGregor (Tulsa) def. Huntley Montgomery (UVa), 6-4, 7-5.3. Tommy Croker (UVa) def. Shriranga Sudhakara (Tulsa), 2-6, 6-3, 6-2.
4. Alejandro Tejerina (Tulsa) def. Michael Duquette (UVa), 6-4, 6-0. 5. Brian Hunter (UVa) def. Micah Zomer (Tulsa), 6-4, 7-5.
6. Sean Monk (Tulsa) def. Jonathan Chou (UVa), 6-0, 6-2.