Cavalier Men's Tennis Advances to NCAA Quarterfinals With 4-0 Win Over Miami
Story Links
May 21, 2006
STANFORD, Calif. – The No. 8 seeded Virginia men’s tennis team reached the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year with a 4-0 win over Miami Saturday night in a round of 16 match on the campus of Stanford University. The Cavaliers will meet top seeded Georgia in a quarterfinal match Sunday night at the Taube Tennis Center.
The Cavaliers (24-8) took the early 1-0 lead in the match by winning the doubles point. Darrin Cohen (Lafayette, Calif.) and Doug Stewart (Malibu, Calif.) got the Cavaliers started by cruising to an 8-0 win over Vivek Subramanian and P.J. Passalacqua at No. 3 doubles. The win was Cohen’s 103rd career doubles win, establishing a new school record. Virginia clinched the doubles point at No. 2, when Treat Huey (Alexandria, Va.) and Somdev Devvarman (Chennai, India) closed out an 8-5 win over Tim Krebs and Eric Hechtman. The match at No. 1 doubles was abandoned with No. 7 ranked Rylan Rizza (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) and Nick Meythaler (Owensboro, Ky.) leading No. 10 Luigi D’Agord and Daniel Vallverdu.
The Cavaliers took the momentum from doubles into singles, as they took five of the six first sets. Cohen, a northern California native playing less than an hour from his hometown, put Virginia up 2-0 with his 7-5, 6-4 win over John Hoyes at No. 6 singles. The win was Cohen’s 100th career singles win, as he became the first player in school history to record both 100 singles wins and 100 doubles wins in his career.
At No. 2 singles, Rizza won the first set in his match against Vallverdu. In the second set, Vallverdu rallied from a break down to force a second set tiebreaker. In the breaker, Rizza fought off three set points against, including one on a call over-ruled by the umpire, before winning the breaker 12-10 to record a 6-3, 7-6 win. The Cavaliers needed one more point to clinch their ticket to the quarterfinals, and were leading in the remaining four matches. Stewart and Devvarman were both leading 4-1 in the third set, while Marko Miklo (Bratislava, Slovakia) was up a set at No. 5 singles. However, it was Huey who clinched the win as he rallied from dropping the first set to down Krebs 3-6, 7-5, 6-3 at No. 4 singles.
With the victory, the Cavaliers advance to the quarterfinals for the second time in school history. The win was Virginia’s eighth NCAA Tournament win in the past three years, only Baylor (12) and UCLA (12) have more during that time.
Sunday’s quarterfinal match against Georgia is slated for 6:00 p.m. at the Taube Tennis Center on the campus of Stanford University. The winner will advance to Monday’s semifinals.
No. 8 Virginia 4, No. 9 Miami 0
Doubles:
1) #7 Rizza/Meythaler (UVa) led #10 D’Agord/Vallverdu (Mia) 6-5 DNF
2) Huey/Devvarman (UVa) def. Hechtman/Krebs (Mia) 8-5
3. Cohen/Stewart (UVa) def. Subramanian/Passalacqua (Mia) 8-0
Singles:
1. #14 Somdev Devvarman (UVa) led #3 Luigi D’Agord (Mia) 6-3, 6-7(1), 4-1 DNF
2. #54 Rylan Rizza (UVa) def. #99 Daniel Vallverdu (Mia) 6-3, 7-6 (10)
3. #95 Doug Stewart (UVa) led #81 Josh Cohen (Mia) 7-5, 3-6, 4-1 DNF
4. #63 Treat Huey (UVa) def. Tim Krebs (Mia) 3-6, 7-5, 6-3
5. Marko Miklo (UVa) led Eric Hechtman (Mia) 6-4, 5-5 DNF
6. Darrin Cohen (UVa) def. John Hoyes (Mia) 7-5, 6-4