No. 1 Cavaliers Down No. 5 Texas 5-2

Story Links

CHARLOTTESVILLE In front of a record crowd of 983 at the Boyd Tinsley Courts at Boar’s Head Sports Club, the top-ranked Virginia men’s tennis team defeated No. 5 Texas 5-2 Friday night. After dropping the doubles point, the Cavaliers won five of six singles matches, all in straight sets, to post their 14th win of the season.

“This was a great win for our team against a talented Texas team,” said Virginia head coach Brian Boland. “Tonight we had a great environment, one that a match of this caliber deserves, and we appreciate all the fans that came out to see us.”

For the fourth time this season, Virginia fell behind early by losing the doubles point. Sanam Singh (Chandigarh, India) and Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) scored a 9-7 win at No. 3 doubles over Dimitar Kutrovsky and Josh Zavala. However, the Longhorns scored upsets at No. 1 and No. 2 doubles to take the opening point. Luis Diaz Barriga and Miguel Reyes Varela upset No. 18 Dominic Inglot (London, England) and Houston Barrick (Brentwood, Tenn.) at No. 2 doubles and Ed Corrie and Kellen Damico handed top-ranked Somdev Devvarman (Chennai, India) and Treat Huey (Alexandria. Va.) just their second loss of the season, 8-5, at No. 1 doubles.

“These matches would be a whole lot easier if we could win the doubles point,” said Boland. “I think we are close to a breakthrough though in doubles. We have had some guys out due to injury this spring and have had to mix up some teams, including in practice. I think as the season goes along we will start to see the consistency we want.”

In singles, the Cavaliers got off to a strong start, winning five of the six first sets. In three of those matches, Virginia rallied from down a break to win the first set.

“I was pleased with how responded in the start of singles after losing a though doubles point,” said Boland. “We kept fighting and climbed back into the match by winning five of six first sets. That gave us a lot of momentum.”

The Cavaliers drew even in the dual match, 1-1, as Devvarman completed his 6-3, 6-2 win over Kutrovsky at No. 1 singles. It marked his 16th consecutive singles win this season and his 21st consecutive dual match win, dating back to last season. Texas retook the lead seconds later as Damico topped Inglot 6-2, 7-5 at No. 2 singles.

Virginia clinched the dual match win by completing three straight set victories in a matter of minutes. Barrick tied the match at 2-2 with his 6-4, 6-4 win over Reyes Varela at No. 5 singles. Singh gave the Cavaliers their first lead of the night with his 6-3, 6-4 win over Diaz Barriga at No. 4 singles. Ted Angelinos (Athens, Greece) clinched the match with his 6-4, 6-2 win at No. 6 singles over Zavala. Singh and Angelinos both remained undefeated in dual match singles matches this season, winning their 13th and 11th consecutive matches respectively.

“Texas has the depth to match us at the bottom of the lineup so I thought that No. 4, 5, and 6 were going to be key to the match,” said Boland. “Ted and Houston fought for tough wins and Sanam, well he just keeps rolling. The guys down low in the lineup, they were the difference in the match tonight.”

Huey completed the evening with his 6-4, 6-4 win at No. 3 singles over Corrie.

“Virginia is No. 1 for a reason,” said Texas head coach Michael Center. “This was a great environment to play in and we learned a lot. We need to improve in some places to catch up to where they are. I felt like tonight was the first time all year that we got flat out beat.”

The Cavaliers ran their school-record home winning streak to 24 matches and improve to 22-1 all-time at the Boyd Tinsley Courts. Virginia’s lone loss in the facility came to Texas, 4-3, in 2006.

The Cavaliers will return to action on Saturday as they host No. 9 Baylor. The match will be played indoors at the Boyd Tinsley Courts at 2 p.m. The match will be broadcast online by ACC Select. Due to the network capabilities at the Boar’s Head Sports Club, the broadcast will be available only on demand following the conclusion of the match.

No. 1 Virginia 5, No. 5 Texas 2

Doubles:
1. Corrie/Damico (Texas) def. #1 Devvarman/Huey (UVa) 8-5
2. Diaz Barriga/Reyes Varela (Texas) def. #18 Inglot/Barrick (UVa) 8-6
3. #19 Singh/Shabaz (UVa) def. Kutrovsky/Zavala (Texas) 9-7

Singles:
1. #1 Somdev Devvarman (UVa) def. #54 Dimitar Kutrovsky (Texas) 6-3, 6-2
2. #18 Kellen Damico (Texas) def. #5 Dominic Inglot (UVa) 6-2, 7-5
3. #52 Treat Huey (UVa) def. #24 Ed Corrie (Texas) 6-4, 6-4
4. Sanam Singh (UVa) def. #88 Luis Diaz Barriga (Texas) 6-4, 6-4
5. Houston Barrick (UVa) def. Miguel Reyes Varela (Texas) 6-4, 6-4
6. #76 Ted Angelinos (UVa) def. Josh Zavala (Texas) 6-4, 6-2

Order of Finish: Doubles- 3,1,2 Singles- 1,2,5,4,6,3
Records: Virginia (14-0), Texas (10-2)
Attendance: 983