Story Links
CHARLOTTESVILLE The top-ranked Virginia men’s tennis team needed barely two-and-a-half hours to post its seventh top 10 win of the season, downing No. 10 Florida State 6-1 Sunday afternoon at the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar’s Head Sports Club. The Cavaliers (21-0, 7-0 ACC) recorded their 24th consecutive win over an ACC opponent, tying the school record set from 2004-2006.
“I think with each match we have just continued to play a little bit better,” said head coach Brian Boland. “We had a great week of practice and that hard work showed in a pair of wins against two quality conference teams.”
The Cavaliers opened the match by sweeping the doubles matches. Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) and Dominic Inglot (London, England) improved to 2-0 since being paired this week, topping Sam Chang and Maciek Sykut 8-1 at the No. 2 position. Top-ranked Somdev Devvarman (Chennai, India) and Treat Huey (Alexandria, Va.) clinched the opening point with an 8-5 victory over No. 27 Jean-Yves Aubone and Clint Bowles at the top position. At No. 3 doubles, a tiebreaker was played at 6-6 since the doubles point had been decided. Houston Barrick (Brentwood, Tenn.) and Sanam Singh (Chandiagrh, India), playing their first match as a team, rallied from down 4-2 in the tiebreaker to win 8-6 against Brad Mixson and Andrew Bailey and complete the doubles sweep.
In singles, the Cavaliers won five of the six matches, all in straight sets. Huey made the score 2-0 as he completed a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Bowles at No. 2 singles. Singh remained perfect in dual match play, running his win streak to 20 consecutive matches with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Sykut at No. 4 singles. Ted Angelinos (Athens, Greece) clinched the dual match win with is 6-3, 6-1 win over Mixson, his 16th consecutive win. Shabaz extended the lead to 5-0 as he topped Chris Cloer 6-4, 6-4 at No. 5 singles. Devvarman ran his winning streak to 23 consecutive matches, one shy of his school record, with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Aubone at the No. 1 position. Florida State (14-4, 5-2 ACC) won the final matches on the courts as Chang defeated Inglot 7-6, 6-4 at No. 3 singles.
“We once again got some great performances at the bottom of the lineup,” said Boland. “Sanam, Michael, Teddy they all keep getting better. Then at the top of the lineup we have Somdev and Treat that give us great leadership at No. 1 and No. 2.”
The Cavaliers will take on another top 10 foe next week as they visit No. 9 North Carolina on Friday.
No. 1 Virginia 6, No. 10 Florida State 1
Doubles:
1. #1 Devvarman/Huey (UVa) def. #27 Aubone/Bowles (FSU) 8-5
2. Inglot/Shabaz (UVa) def. Chang/Sykut (FSU) 8-1
3. Barrick/Singh (FSU) def. Mixson/Bailey (FSU) 7-6 (6)
Singles:
1. #1 Somdev Devvarman (UVa) def. #40 Jean-Yves Aubone (FSU) 6-1, 6-4
2. #28 Treat Huey (UVa) def. #58 Clint Bowles (FSU) 6-2, 6-3
3. Sam Chang (FSU) def. #5 Dominic Inglot (UVa) 7-6, 6-4
4. #97 Sanam Singh (UVa) def. Maciek Sykut (FSU) 6-1, 6-2
5. Michael Shabaz (UVa) def. Chris Cloer (FSU) 6-4, 6-4
6. Ted Angelinos (UVa) def. Brad Mixson (FSU) 6-3, 6-1
Order of Finish: Doubles- 2,1,3 Singles- 2,4,6,5,1,3
Records: Virginia (21-0, 7-0 ACC), Florida State (14-4, 5-2 ACC)
Attendance: 609