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No. 1 Cavaliers Improve to 7-0 with Win Over Harvard
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CHARLOTTESVILLE The top ranked Virginia men’s tennis team improved to 7-0 on the season with a 6-1 victory over No. 51 Harvard Sunday at the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar’s Head Sports Club. The win extended the Cavaliers’ home winning streak to 21 matches, setting a new school record.
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.
“We have a great deal of depth on our roster and it showed this weekend,” said Virginia head coach Brian Boland. “We were without Somdev and Dom, but both will be back for us next weekend in Seattle. The guys who stepped into the lineup played well. We have played eight deep in our lineup all season and will continue to do so.”
The Cavaliers took a 1-0 lead in the match by winning the doubles point. The team of Treat Huey (Alexandria, Va.) and Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) cruised to an 8-0 win at No. 2 doubles over Dan Nguyen and Aba Omodele-Lucien. Ted Angelinos (Athens, Greece) and Lee Singer (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) clinched the opening point for Virginia with their 8-5 win at No. 3 doubles over Michael Hayes and Chris Clayton. The No. 14 ranked Harvard duo of Ashwin Kumar and Sasha Ermakov topped Houston Barrick (Brentwood, Tenn.) and Sanam Singh (Chandigarh, India) 8-5 at the No. 1 position.
In singles, only a 25-minute delay for a power outage would slow the Cavaliers from quickly clinching the dual match. Virginia got quick wins at the No. 4 and No. 5 positions, as Barrick topped Nguyen 6-1, 6-3 and Angelinos downed Omodele-Lucien 6-1, 6-2.. Singh clinched the dual match with his 6-2, 6-2 win over Ermakov at No. 3 singles. Singer posted a win at No. 6 singles, defeating Will Guzick 6-3, 6-4. After Harvard picked up its only point at No. 2 singles, where Kumar defeated Shabaz, Huey closed out the match for Virginia with his 6-3, 7-5 win over Clayton at No. 1 singles.
With their victories Sunday, Angelinos, Singh, and Barrick all remain unbeaten in dual match singles play this season.
Huey’s win was his 77th career dual match singles victory, setting a new school record. The previous record of 76 was set by Brian Vahaly (1998-01) and matched by Rylan Rizza (2003-06).
The Cavaliers extended its home winning streak to 21 matches, setting a new school record. The previous record of 20 consecutive home wins was set from 2004-06. The Cavaliers last home loss was a 4-3 setback to Miami in 2006.
Virginia travels to Seattle this week for the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. The Cavaliers, the No. 1 seed in the 16-team field, opens play against Penn State on Friday. Match time at the Nordstrom Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Washington is 11 a.m. (PT).
No. 1 Virginia 6, No. 51 Harvard 1
Doubles:
1. #14 Kumar/Ermakov (H) def. Singh/Barrick (UVa) 8-5
2. Huey/Shabaz (UVa) def. Nguyen/Omodele-Lucien (H) 8-0
3. #17 Angelinos/Singer (UVa) def. Hayes/Clayton (H) 8-5
Singles:
1. #12 Treat Huey (UVa) def. Chris Clayton (H) 6-3, 7-5
2. Ashwin Kumar (H) def. Michael Shabaz (UVa) 7-5, 6-4
3. Sanam Singh (UVa) def. Sasha Ermakov (H) 6-2, 6-2
4. #83 Houston Barrick (UVa) def. Dan Nguyen (H) 6-1, 6-3
5. Ted Angelinos (UVa) def. Aba Omodele-Lucien (H) 6-1, 6-2
6. Lee Singer (UVa) def. Will Guzick (H) 6-3, 6-4
Order of Finish: Doubles-2,3,1 Singles- 4,5,3,6,2,1
Records: Virginia (7-0), Harvard (2-2)
Attendance: 307