Cavaliers Receive Top Seed in NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships
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CHARLOTTESVILLE The Virginia men’s tennis team had three singles players and one doubles team selected for the 2008 NCAA Individual Championships, to be held May 21-26 at the Michael Case Tennis Center at the University of Tulsa. The selections were headlined by Somdev Devvarman (Chennai, India), who is the No. 1 seed for the singles tournament, and with Treat Huey (Alexandria, Va.), the No. 1 seed for the doubles tournament.
Devvarman, the 2007 NCAA Singles Champion, is looking to be just the fourth player in the past 50 years to win consecutive singles crowns. Also the 2006 NCAA singles runner-up, Devvarman could become the first player since Northwestern’s Marty Riessen (1962-64) to reach three consecutive NCAA singles finals. This season, Devvarman has posted a 36-1 singles record, including a 23-0 mark in dual match play. He has been ranked No. 1 in the ITA rankings every week of the season.
Dominic Inglot (London, England) is a 9-16 seed in the tournament, marking the first time in history that the Cavaliers have had two players seeded. Inglot is currently ranked No. 17 in the ITA rankings and has a 20-9 overall singles record. It will be Inglot’s first NCAA Singles Championship appearance.
Huey is making his second NCAA singles appearance, as Virginia ties the school record set in 2005 with three players in the singles draw. Huey has a 30-5 singles record this season and is ranked No. 28 in the ITA rankings.
Devvarman and Huey, ranked No. 1 in every week of the year in the ITA rankings, are the No. 1 seed for the NCAA Doubles Championship. Last year, the duo was the No. 2 seed in the event and fell in the semifinals. Huey and Devvarman won both the ITA All-America Championships and the ITA National Indoor Championships in the fall, and are looking to be just the second team to win all three major tournaments in the same season, joining California’s Doug Eisenman and Matt Lucena who won all three during the 1989-90 season.
First-years Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) and Sanam Singh (Chandigarh, India) were selected as the sixth alternate for the NCAA Doubles Championship and could still make the draw if enough teams pull out of the tournament. The Cavaliers have never had multiple teams in the NCAA Doubles Championship.
Virginia, the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Team Championship, opens play May 10-11 as it hosts first and second round action at the Snyder Tennis Center. The Cavaliers (28-0) meet Fairleigh Dickinson in the first round, with VCU and Penn State also competing in the Charlottesville Regional.