Men's Tennis Posts 4-3 Win at No. 6 Duke
Story Links
DURHAM, N.C. – In a matchup of the two highest ranked teams in the ACC, the third-ranked Virginia men’s tennis team used strong singles play to record a 4-3 win over No. 6 Duke Friday at the Ambler Tennis Center. The Cavaliers (14-1, 4-0 ACC) won four singles matches to rally for the victory over the Blue Devils (13-3, 2-1 ACC).
Despite making changes to their pairings, the Cavaliers fell behind early 1-0 by losing the doubles point for the third consecutive road match. Alex Domijan (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) and Julen Uriguen (Guatemala City, Guatemala) teamed at No. 2 for an 8-1 win over Fred Saba and David Holland to give Virginia the early edge. Duke answered with an 8-3 win at No. 3 by Cale Hammond and Raphael Hemmeler over Steven Rooda (Amersfoort, The Netherlands) and Philippe Oudshoorn (Adeldoorn, The Netherlands). The opening point was decided by the match at No. 1 where Henrique Cunha and Chris Mengel used a late break to edge Jarmere Jenkins (College Park, Ga.) and Drew Courtney (Clifton, Va.) 8-6 and give the Blue Devils the lead.
Virginia would rally in singles, winning the first three matches off the courts to take a 3-1 lead. Domijan cruised to a 6-2, 6-3 win over Mengel at No. 2, followed shortly by Mitchell Frank’s (Annandale, Va.) 6-2, 6-2 win over Hemmeler at No. 3. Justin Shane (Falls Church, Va.) added a 6-3, 7-5 win at No. 5 over Jason Tahir. Duke answered with a pair of straight set wins to draw even at 3-3. Hammond defeated Uriguen 6-4, 6-4 at No. 6 and Saba topped Courtney 7-5, 6-4 at No. 4.
The match came down to the contest at No. 1 where two of the nation’s top seven ranked players battled. Seventh-ranked Jenkins and third-ranked Cunha held serve every game of the first set before Jenkins won the first set tiebreaker. The second set was tied at 1-1 before Jenkins rolled off five consecutive games to close out the 7-6(4), 6-1 victory.
The win was Virginia’s 82nd consecutive victory against ACC competition, extending its conference record.
The Cavaliers return to action on Sunday as they visit No. 20 North Carolina.
#3 VIRGINIA 4, #6 DUKE 3
Doubles:
1. #62 Cunha/Mengel (Duke) def. #10 Courtney/Jenkins (UVa) 8-6
2. Domijan/Uriguen (UVa) def. Saba/Holland (Duke) 8-1
3. Hemmeler/Hammond (Duke) def. Rooda/Oudshoorn (UVa) 8-3
Singles:
1. #7 Jarmere Jenkins (UVa) def. #3 Henrique Cunha (Duke) 7-6(4), 6-1
2. #94 Alex Domijan (UVa) def. #18 Chris Mengel (Duke) 6-2, 6-3
3. #1 Mitchell Frank (UVa) def. Raphael Hemmeler (Duke) 6-2, 6-2
4. Fred Saba (Duke) def. Drew Courtney (UVa) 7-5, 6-4
5. #86 Justin Shane (UVa) def. Jason Tahir (Duke) 6-3, 7-5
6. Cale Hammond (Duke) def. Julen Uriguen (UVa) 6-4, 6-4
Order of Finish:
Doubles: 2,3,1
Singles: 2,3,5,6,4,1