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March 23, 2014

DURHAM, N.C. – The seventh-ranked Virginia men’s tennis team posted its second top-15 road win of the weekend, downing No. 13 Duke 5-1 Sunday at the Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center. The Cavaliers improved to 12-2 overall and 4-0 in the conference with the victory, while the Blue Devils (10-5, 2-1 ACC) suffered their first conference loss.

“It was good to get a road win over a great Duke team,” said head coach Brian Boland. “We were up 3-0 and had Justin (Shane) up a break in the third and Thai (Kwiatkowski) serving for the match to clinch at 4-0, but give Duke credit for fighting back. It was a good learning experience for us and we need to continue to get better with each match we play.”

Due to the match being played as part of the USTA College Match Day series, singles was played first and doubles would only be played if the match was tied 3-3. Virginia opened up the match strong winning five of the six first sets. Alex Domijan (Wesley Chapel, Fla.) gave Virginia the lead with his 6-2, 6-3 win at No. 1 over Fred Saba. Ryan Shane (Falls Church, Va.) doubled the lead with his 6-1, 6-3 victory at No. 3 over Bruno Semenzato. J.C. Aragone (Yorba Linda, Calif.) extended the advantage to 3-0 as he posted a 7-5, 6-2 win over Daniel McCall at No. 6.

The Blue Devils needed to win the last three matches to force a doubles point. They cut into the lead with a win at No. 5 as Josh Levine topped Justin Shane (Falls Church, Va.) 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 to make the score 3-1. Mitchell Frank (Annandale, Va.) made sure that doubles weren’t necessary as he clinched the Cavalier victory with his 6-3, 7-6(5) win over Jason Tahir at No. 2 singles. In the final match on the courts, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Charlotte, N.C.) rallied from down 4-0 in the third set to post a 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(2) win over Raphael Hemmeler at No. 4 singles.

Virginia extended its win streak against ACC competition (regular season and postseason) to 111 matches with the victory.

The Cavaliers return home next weekend for three home matches. Virginia hosts Miami on Friday, Florida State on Saturday and William & Mary on Sunday.

#7 VIRGINIA 5, #13 DUKE 1

Singles:
1. #33 Alex Domijan (UVa) def. #58 Fred Saba (Duke) 6-2, 6-3
2. #6 Mitchell Frank (UVa) def. #40 Jason Tahir (Duke) 6-3, 7-6(5)
3. #45 Ryan Shane (UVa) def. #92 Bruno Semenzato (Duke) 6-1, 6-3
4. #123 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (UVa) def. Raphael Hemmeler (Duke) 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(2)
5. Josh Levine def. Justin Shane (UVa) 6-1, 2-6, 6-4
6. J.C. Aragone (UVa) def. Daniel McCall (Duke) 7-5, 6-2
Order of Finish: 1,3,6,5,2,4

Doubles:
Not played

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