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April 23, 2006
CARY, N.C. – The No. 9 ranked Virginia men’s tennis team had its bid for a third consecutive ACC title fall short, suffering a 4-3 loss to No. 3 Duke in the championship match of the 2006 ACC Tournament Sunday afternoon at the Cary Tennis Center. The loss drops the Cavaliers’ record to 21-8 on the season.
The Cavaliers jumped out to an early 1-0 lead by winning the doubles point. Somdev Devvarman (Chennai, India) and Treat Huey (Alexandria, Va.) scored an 8-5 win over Stephen Amritraj and Peter Rodrigues at No. 2 doubles. Darrin Cohen (Lafayette, Calif.) and Doug Stewart (Malibu, Calif.) rallied from down a break at No. 3 doubles against Ludovic Walter and Ned Samuelson to force a tiebreaker, which they won 7-0 to clinch the doubles point with a 9-8 win.
In singles, the Blue Devils won four of the six first sets. However, in the other two matches, the Cavaliers won in straight sets to take a 3-0 lead. Cohen scored a 6-3, 6-2 win over Kiril Dimitrov at No. 5 singles. Stewart then posted a 6-1, 6-2 win over Rodrigues at No. 3 singles. Duke drew even with straight set wins at No. 2, No. 4, and No. 1 singles to make the score 3-3. The match then came down to No. 6 singles, where Nick Meythaler (Owensboro, Ky.) rallied from dropping the first set in his match against Amritraj to win the second set in the breaker. In the third set, Amritraj won the last four games to capture the set 6-2 and clinch the victory for Duke.
“It was a disappointing loss,” said Virginia head coach Brian Boland. “I know this team will be ready for the NCAA Tournament, which is something we have worked for all year. Duke played a good match today and they deserved to win. The conference is so strong from top to bottom, and it was a grueling event.”
The Cavaliers will await their selection to the 2006 NCAA Tournament. The 64-team bracket will be announced on May 3 live on ESPNews.
No. 3 Duke 4, No. 9 Virginia 3
Doubles:
1) #10 Rizza/Meythaler (UVa) led #22 Stokke/Atas (Duke) 8-7 DNF
2) Huey/Devvarman (UVa) def. Amritraj/Rodrigues (Duke) 8-5
3. Cohen/Stewart (UVa) def. Walter/Samuelson (Duke) 9-8 (0)
Singles:
1. #6 Ludovic Walter (Duke) def. #13 Somdev Devvarman (UVa) 6-4, 7-5
2. #58 Jonathan Stokke (Duke) def. #45 Rylan Rizza (UVa) 7-5, 6-4
3. #86 Doug Stewart (UVa) def. #81 Peter Rodrigues (Duke) 6-1, 6-2
4. Joey Atas (Duke) def. #79 Treat Huey (UVa) 7-6 (5), 6-4
5. Darrin Cohen (UVa) def. Kiril Dimitrov (Duke) 6-3, 6-2
6. Stephen Amritraj (Duke) def. Nick Meythaler (UVa) 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-2