No. 1 Virginia Rolls Past Sacred Heart in NCAA First Round

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CHARLOTTESVILLE – The top-ranked Virginia men’s tennis team needed less than two hours to advance to the second round of the 2011 NCAA Tournament, downing Sacred Heart 4-0 in a first round match Friday afternoon at the Snyder Tennis Center. The Cavaliers (30-0), who reached the 30-win mark for the fifth consecutive season, will meet ACC-rival Wake Forest in the second round on Saturday.

“It was nice to get back to competition,” said head coach Brian Boland. “It had been three weeks since the ACC Tournament and that layoff is harder than it looks. I thought the guys handled it well and we got through that transition of playing again. I was overall pleased with the performance and we look forward to playing a difficult Wake Forest team tomorrow.”

The Cavaliers opened the match by winning the doubles point. Sanam Singh (Chandigarh, India) and Alex Domijan (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) cruised to an 8-0 win at No. 3 over Nick Mazzarese and Cole Conrad. At No. 2, Jarmere Jenkins (College Park, Ga.) and Julen Uriguen (Guatemala City, Guatemala) clinched the point for Virginia with their 8-3 win over Chris Ujkic and Mike Syer.

In singles, the Cavaliers jumped out to a quick start and won all six first sets. Singh doubled the Virginia lead as he topped Mazzarese 6-1, 6-1 at No. 3 singles. Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) extended the lead to 3-0 with his 6-2, 6-1 win over Kirill Kasyanov at the top position. Jenkins closed out the match as he completed a 6-2, 6-1 win at No. 4 over Syer. The Cavaliers led the three singles matches that were abandoned, including at No. 2 where Domijan was about to serve on match point.

With the victory, the Cavaliers remain undefeated all-time in home NCAA Tournament matches (15-0) and extended their school-record home winning streak to 88 consecutive matches.

Sacred Heart ends the season with a 16-8 record.

The Cavaliers will meet Wake Forest in the second round on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Demon Deacons defeated VCU 4-0 in Friday’s other first round match in Charlottesville. The match will be the third match of an NCAA Tournament tripleheader at the Snyder Tennis Center. First round play of the NCAA Women’s Tournament begins Saturday with a pair of matches prior to the men’s second round match. NC State plays VCU at 9 a.m. in the first match of the day, followed by the No. 11 Cavalier women’s team hosting Army at noon.

#1 Virginia 4, Sacred Heart 0

Doubles
1. #2 Courtney/Shabaz (UVa) vs. Kasyanov/Sullo (SH) 5-5 DNF
2. Jenkins/Uriguen (UVa) def. Ujkic/Syer (SH) 8-3
3. Domijan/Singh (UVa) def. Mazzarese/Conrad (SH) 8-0

Singles
1. #5 Michael Shabaz (UVa) def. Kirill Kasyanov (SH) 6-2, 6-1
2. #2 Alex Domijan (UVa) led Chris Ujkic (SH) 6-0, 5-0 (40-0) DNF
3. #34 Sanam Singh (UVa) def. Nick Mazzarese (SH) 6-1, 6-1
4. #56 Jarmere Jenkins (UVa) def. Mike Syer (SH) 6-2, 6-1
5. #39 Drew Courtney (UVa) led Chadd Sullo (SH) 6-1, 3-3 DNF
6. Justin Shane (UVa) led Cole Conrad (SH) 6-3, 1-0 DNF

Order of Finish
Doubles: 3,2
Singles: 3,1,4