Story Links
March 29, 2003
TALLAHASSEE, FLA – The No. 21 ranked Virginia men’s tennis team suffered their first conference loss of the season, falling 4-3 to No. 41 Florida State Saturday. The Cavaliers are now 17-3 on the season, 3-1 in the ACC.
The Cavaliers opened strong by taking the doubles point. In a match between nationally ranked doubles teams at the No. 1 position, The No. 40 ranked team of Doug Stewart (Malibu, Calif.) and Michael Duquette (Virginia Beach, Va.) defeated No. 35 ranked Mat Cloer and Rodrigo Laub. The team of Rylan Rizza (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) and Nick Meythaler (Owensboro, Ky.) also won for UVa at No. 3 doubles.
However in singles play, the Cavaliers could only win two of the six matches. Stewart, ranked No. 42 nationally in singles, defeated No. 70 Mat Cloer in straight sets to improve his record to 17-1 in dual matches on the season. Duquette won in three sets at No. 3 singles for the other Virginia win.
“This was a typical hard fought ACC match,” stated Virginia head coach Brian Boland. “Give Florida State credit, they did what they had to do to get the win and they deserved it today.”
Virginia will play Stetson on Sunday, also in Tallahassee, before returning home for a Wednesday doubleheader against Maryland and Howard.
No. 41 Florida State 4, No. 21 Virginia 3Singles:1. No. 42 Doug Stewart (UVa) def. No. 70 Mat Cloer (FSU) 6-3, 6-12. No. 104 Romain Jurd (FSU) def. Rylan Rizza (UVa) 6-4, 5-7, 7-53. Michael Duquette (UVa) def. Alex Herrera (FSU) 6-3, 4-6, 6-14. Chris Westerhof (FSU) def. Chris Gonyer (UVa) 5-7, 6-1, 6-25. Jeff Groslimond (FSU) def. Stephen Nolen (UVa) 6-4, 7-56. Rodrigo Laub (FSU) def. Darrin Cohen (UVa) 6-7, 6-1, 6-4
Doubles:1. No. 40 Duquette/Stewart (UVa) def. No. 35 Laub/Cloer (FSU) 8-52. Groslimond/Westerfhof (FSU) def. Gonyer/Nolen (UVa) 8-53. Rizza/Meythaler (UVa) def. Herrera/Endler (FSU) 8-3