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No. 1 Men's Tennis Tops Kentucky
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CHARLOTTESVILLE Despite missing two of the top three ranked players in the country, the No. 1 Virginia men’s tennis team continued its winning streak, downing No. 47 Kentucky 4-3 Friday night at the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar’s Head Sports Club. A season-high crowd of 716 was in attendance to see the Cavaliers improve to 6-0 this season.
“This was the competitive match that we knew it was going to be,” said Virginia head coach Brian Boland. “Kentucky is a great team. I am pleased that our team continues to improve with every match. We are taking it one day at a time, especially since we have an incredibly tough schedule. If we keep working hard, things will come together. We now have to get ready for a tough Harvard team on Sunday.”
The Cavaliers were without the services of senior Somdev Devvarman (Chennai, India), the nation’s top ranked singles player, and junior Dominic Inglot (London, England), ranked No. 3 nationally. Devvarman returned home this week to play for India in the Davis Cup against Uzbekistan. Inglot, who has recently been hampered by a sore arm, was rested for precautionary reasons. Boland calls Inglot’s status day-to-day and that he could return as early as Sunday.
The Cavaliers took the early advantage by winning a tight doubles point. At No. 3 doubles, the Virginia duo of Ted Angelinos (Athens, Greece) and Lee Singer used a late break to down Will Beck and Alex Lambropoulos 8-6 at No. 3 doubles. At No. 1 doubles, Treat Huey (Alexandria. Va.) teamed with Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) to take on the No. 21 ranked Kentucky team of Bruno Agostinelli and Brad Cox. Huey and Shabaz had a 7-6 lead and served for the match only to be broken. With Shabaz serving at 7-8 (30-40), he hit a second serve up the middle that the Kentucky team called out. The umpire overruled the call and Shabaz went on to hold serve and force a tiebreaker. The Cavalier team jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the breaker, including a point penalty on Kentucky for the third overrule against them of the match, and cruised to a 7-1 win to clinch the opening point for Virginia. The match at No. 2 doubles was abandoned.
“There was a lot of emotion in the doubles,” said Boland. “I was pleased with how the guys battled and pulled out a close point.”
In singles the Cavaliers increased their lead to 3-0 with a pair of quick, straight set wins. Sanam Singh (Chandigarh, India) and Ted Angelinos (Athens, Greece) both remained undefeated in dual match play with wins at No. 3 and No. 5 singles respectively. Singh downed Sundh 6-3, 6-1 and Angelinos topped Alberto Gonzalez 6-2, 6-4. Kentucky rallied to cut the lead to 3-2 with wins at No. 2 and No. 6 singles before Houston Barrick (Brentwood, Tenn.) clinched the dual match with his 7-5, 6-3 win over Cox at No. 4 singles. The final match on the courts was at No. 1 singles, the only matchup of ranked players. No. 31 Agostinelli edged No. 12 Huey in a third-set superbreaker 3-6, 6-4, 10-7.
“Houston played a great match,” said Boland. “He has worked so hard on his game and he deserves the success that he has been having.”
Virginia will return to action on Sunday morning at it hosts No. 51 Harvard. It is the final match for the Cavaliers before the ITA National Team Indoors next week in Seattle, where Virginia is the No. 1 seed.
No. 1 Virginia 4, No. 47 Kentucky 3
Doubles:
1. Huey/Shabaz (UVa) def. #21 Agostinelli/Cox (UK) 9-8 (1)
2. Singh/Barrick (UVa) vs. Sundh/Ward (UK) 6-6 dnf
3. #17 Angelinos/Singer (UVa) def. Beck/Lambropoulos (UK) 8-6
Singles:
1. #31 Bruno Agostinelli (UK) def. #12 Treat Huey (UVa) 3-6, 6-4, 10-7
2. Will Ward (UK) def. Michael Shabaz (UVa) 6-4, 6-2
3. Sanam Singh (UVa) def. Marcus Sundh (UK) 6-3, 6-1
4. #83 Houston Barrick (UVa) def. Brad Cox (UK) 7-5, 6-3
5. Ted Angelinos (UVa) def. Alberto Gonzalez (UK) 6-2, 6-4
6. Will Beck (UK) def. Lee Singer (UVa) 7-6(4), 6-4
Order of Finish: Doubles-3,1 Singles- 3,5,2,6,4,1
Records: Virginia (6-0), Kentucky (4-3)
Attendance: 716