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TALLAHASSEE, Fla. The No. 1 Virginia men’s tennis team remained undefeated on the season with a 4-3 victory over No. 15 Florida State Sunday in Tallahassee. The Cavaliers improve to 22-0 overall and 7-0 in the ACC with the victory, while the Seminoles suffered their first conference loss of the year (15-6, 5-1 ACC).
“This was a great match and this is always a difficult place to play,” said Virginia head coach Brian Boland. “I was very impressed with our doubles play and that gave us a great start to the match. In singles, Michael, Houston and Drew stepped up and really led us today. We are looking forward to getting back home and having a week to work on some adjustments and some improvements. We are also looking forward to getting Steven Rooda back into lineup next weekend. He hasn’t been 100 percent recently, but is close to being back at full strength and will be ready to go next week.”
Virginia opened the match by winning the doubles point, which proved to be crucial for the second consecutive match. Sanam Singh (Chandigarh, India) and Houston Barrick (Brentwood, Tenn.) cruised to an 8-2 win over Drew Bailey and Maciek Sykut at No. 2. Dominic Inglot (London, England) and Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) followed with an 8-6 win over Jean-Yves Aubone and Vahid Mirzadeh at the No. 1 position. Lee Singer (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) and Drew Courtney (Clifton, Va.) completed the sweep with an 8-4 win over Clint Bowles and Chris Reiman at No. 3.
In singles, the Cavaliers extended their lead to 2-0 as Shabaz downed Sykut 6-2, 6-1 at No. 3 singles. After the Seminoles cut the lead to 2-1 with Bailey’s win over Singer at No. 6, Barrick extended the lead to 3-1 with his 7-6, 6-3 win over Mirzadeh at No. 4 singles. The final three matches all went three sets and the Cavaliers clinched the win as Courtney topped Chris Cloer 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 at the No. 5 position. The Seminoles won the final two matches after the dual match had been decided.
The win was also Virginia’s 38th consecutive win over an ACC opponent (regular season and tournament), extending a school record.
The Cavaliers return home next weekend to host Duke on Friday and North Carolina on Sunday.
No. 1 Virginia 4, No. 15 Florida State 3
Doubles
1. #13 Inglot/Shabaz (UVa) def. #39 Aubone/Mirzadeh (FSU) 8-6
2. #4 Barrick/Singh (UVa) def. Bailey/Sykut (FSU) 8-2
3. Singer/Courtney (UVa) def. Bowles/Reiman (FSU) 8-4
Singles
1. #20 Jean-Yves Aubone (FSU) def. #15 Dominic Inglot (UVa) 7-6(5), 6-7(3), 6-2
2. #57 Clint Bowles (FSU) def. #23 Sanam Singh (UVa) 6-4, 4-6, 6-4
3. #18 Michael Shabaz (UVa) def. Maciek Sykut (FSU) 6-2, 6-1
4. #69 Houston Barrick (UVa) def. Vahid Mirzadeh (FSU) 7-6(1), 6-3
5. Drew Courtney (UVa) def. Chris Cloer (FSU) 6-4, 6-7(4), 6-4
6. Drew Bailey (FSU) def. #83 Lee Singer (UVa) 6-4, 6-1
Order of Finish
Doubles: 2,1,3
Singles: 3,6,4,5,2,1