No. 7 Cavaliers Down Clemson 6-1 in ACC Home Debut

Story Links

Box Score March 13, 2015

CHARLOTTESVILLE – The No. 7 Virginia men’s tennis team returned home for the first time in nearly seven weeks and defeated No. 62 Clemson 6-1 Friday afternoon at the Snyder Tennis Center. The Cavaliers improved to 10-3 overall (3-0 ACC) with the victory, while the Tigers fell to 9-7 (0-2 ACC).

“I was pleased with our overall performance,” said head coach Brian Boland. “We continue to improve our doubles with each match. Henrik Wiersholm was impressive in both doubles and singles for us. I see him getting better with each week and he has been a tremendous addition to the program on every level.”

The win extended Virginia’s win streak against conference opponents (regular season and tournaments) to 127 consecutive matches, the longest streak in ACC history in any sport.

Virginia opened the match by taking the doubles point. Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Charlotte, N.C.) teamed with Henrik Wiersholm (Kirkland, Wash.) at No. 2 to defeat Hampton Drake and Christian Harris, 8-3. The opening point was clinched at No. 1 where Ryan Shane (Falls Church, Va.) and Luca Corinteli (Alexandria, Va.) topped Hunter Harrington and Luke Johnson 8-2.

In singles, Clemson drew even as Alexander Ritschard (Zurich, Switzerland) had to retire in the first set of his match at No. 5 against Johnson. However, the Cavaliers won the other five matches in straight sets to seal the victory.

Kwiatkowski posted a 6-3, 6-4 win at No. 4 over Drake to extend the lead to 2-1. Shane followed with a 6-0, 6-3 win at No. 2 over Alejandro Augusto and Wiersholm’s 6-1, 6-2 win at No. 6 over Harris clinched the victory. Mitchell Frank (Annandale, Va.) had a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Harrington at No. 1 and Collin Altamirano (Sacramento, Calif,) topped Daffra Sanon 6-1, 6-4 at No. 3 to close out the 6-1 victory.

“We stopped Alex’s match as a precautionary measure, but he is going to be fine,” said Boland. “We sat both J.C. Aragone and Mac Styslinger as they are both banged up a little, but we wanted to make sure they were ready to go for next weekend.”

The Cavaliers return to action next week with a pair of ACC road matches. Virginia visits Notre Dame on March 20 and Boston College on March 22.

#7 VIRGINIA 6, #62 CLEMSON 1

Doubles:
1. #19 Corinteli/Shane (UVa) def. Harrington/Johnson (CU) 8-2
2. Kwiatkowski/Wiersholm (UVa) def. Drake/Harris (CU) 8-3
3. Frank/Altamirano (UVa) vs. Augusto/Sanon (CU) 6-5 DNF
Order of Finish: 2,1

Singles:
1. #27 Mitchell Frank (UVa) vs. #91 Hunter Harrington (CU) 6-3, 6-1
2. #3 Ryan Shane (UVa) def. Alejandro Augusto (CU) 6-0, 6-3
3. #70 Collin Altamirano (UVa) def. Daffra Sanon (CU) 6-1, 6-4
4. #6 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (UVa) def. Hampton Drake (CU) 6-3, 6-4
5. Luke Johnson (CU) def. Alexander Ritschard (UVa) 5-5 ret.
6. Henrik Wiersholm (UVa) def. Christian Harris (CU) 6-1, 6-2
Order of Finish: 5,4,2,6,1,3