Men's Tennis Blanks Elon to Open 2014 Season
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Jan. 24, 2014
CHARLOTTESVILLE – The top-ranked Virginia men’s tennis team opened the 2014 season Friday night with a 10-0 victory over No. 46 Elon in a first round match of the ITA Kickoff Weekend at the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar’s Head Sports Club. The Cavaliers (1-0) didn’t drop a set while handing the Phoenix (1-1) their first loss of the season.
The Cavaliers will play Indiana (1-1) on Saturday at 6 p.m. in the championship match of the weekend, with the winner advancing to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships next month in Houston. Elon and Samford, who Indiana defeated 6-1 on Friday, will play in the consolation match at 2 p.m.
“This was a good match to open the season,” said head coach Brian Boland. “We have a lot of respect for Elon, especially after they beat Duke last week. We knew we would have to be ready to play today. I feel like we are ahead of where I thought we would be at this point of the season, which is exciting, but we still have a lot to improve on to get to the level that this team is capable of.”
The Cavaliers opened the match sweeping all three doubles matches. Mitchell Frank (Annandale, Va.) teamed with Luca Corinteli (Alexandria, Va.) for a win at No. 2 and the duo of Mac Styslinger (Birmingham, Ala.) and Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Charlotte, N.C.) won at No. 3 to clinch the point. Justin Shane (Falls Church, Va.) and Alex Domijan (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) won at No. 1 in a tiebreaker to complete the sweep.
The teams played an expanded format that featured nine singles matches. Virginia won all nine matches in straight sets. Three Cavalier first-years captured victories in their first career dual match as Jordan Daigle (Lafayette, La.) won at No. 6, Kwiatkowski won at No. 7 and Corinteli won at No. 8. Styslinger won at No. 5 and Harrison Richmond (Pawleys Island, S.C.) won at No. 9 to clinch the victory for the Cavaliers. Ryan Shane (Falls Church, Va.) was victorious at No. 3 and Domijan won at No. 2 to extend the lead to 8-0. There was a battle of top-25 players at No. 1 where third-ranked Frank downed No. 25 Cameron Silverman 6-2, 6-5(4) to make the score 9-0 before Justin Shane closed out the shutout with his win at No. 4 in the final match on the courts.
With a win over Indiana Saturday, the Cavaliers would advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships for the 10th consecutive season. Virginia has won the ITA title five of the past six seasons, including last year.
#1 VIRGINIA 10, #46 ELON 0
Doubles:
1. Domijan/J.Shane (UVa) def. Silverman/Fortmann (Elon) 6-5(2)
2. Frank/Corinteli (UVa) def. Lindgren/Kowalski (Elon) 6-3
3. Styslinger/Kwiatkowski (UVa) def. Madrid/Kaufman (Elon) 6-4
Order of Finish: 2,3,1
Singles:
1. #3 Mitchell Frank (UVa) def. #25 Cameron Silverman (Elon) 6-2, 6-5(4)
2. Alex Domijan (UVa) def. Stefan Fortmann (Elon) 6-2, 6-4
3. Ryan Shane (UVa) def. Robert Lindgren (Elon) 6-2, 6-3
4. #115 Justin Shane (UVa) def. Brian Kowalski (Elon) 6-4, 6-5(7)
5. #94 Mac Styslinger (UVa) def. Jordan Kaufman (Elon) 6-3, 6-1
6. #43 Jordan Daigle (UVa) def. Juan Madrid (Elon) 6-0, 6-1
7. Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (UVa) def. Ismael Sanchez (Elon) 6-0, 6-2
8. Luca Corinteli (UVa) def. Dan Sablik (Elon) 6-1, 6-2
9. Harrison Richmond (UVa) def. Chris Geaslen (Elon) 6-2, 6-0
Order of Finish: 6,7,9,5,8,3,2,1,4