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Feb. 5, 2016

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia men’s tennis team announced that senior Ryan Shane (Falls Church, Va.) has been named as an additional captain for the 2015-16 season, as determined by a vote of the team’s players.

“I am extremely happy for Ryan as he earned this honor,” said Virginia head coach Brian Boland. “Mac Styslinger has been our captain since the fall and has evolved into one of the finest team captains I have ever worked with in my 20 years as a head college coach. I believe Ryan will make our leadership even stronger and I know Mac is looking forward to working with him in leading the team. Ryan has developed as a player and person over the past three years through his hard work and dedication. He is unselfish, hard working, honest, disciplined and absolutely loves wearing the orange and blue. He also loves being part of the team and his teammates really respect him.”

Shane will be joining senior Mac Styslinger (Birmingham, Ala.), who was named a team captain for the defending-national champions back in October.

“Over the past four years, Ryan has been an incredible teammate and an even-better friend,” Styslinger said. “He’s been an integral part of both of our National Championships and has always pushed me to be a better player. I am fully confident Ryan will be a great leader of our team.”

Shane, the reigning NCAA singles champion, was an ITA All-American last season in both singles and doubles, and ranked No. 2 in both the singles and doubles ITA preseason polls. Shane has an 87-21 record in singles, including going 50-12 in dual matches as a Cavalier. This fall, Shane won the inaugural Oracle/ITA Masters Doubles title with his partner Luca Corinteli, while also playing in the singles bracket and winning the consolation final over top-seeded Axel Alvarez Llamas of Oklahoma. Shane also competed in the main draw of the 2015 U.S. Open and won his first pro singles title at the Costa Mesa Pro Classic Futures tournament in September.

The Cavaliers (2-0) will play two matches this Saturday, February 6 at the Boar’s Head Sports Club, taking on Elon (2-2) at 12 p.m. followed by a 5 p.m. match against Furman (1-2). UVA hosts No. 9 UCLA on Tuesday, February 9 at 6 p.m. as a warm-up before hosting the ITA National Team Indoor Championship Feb. 12-15. The ITA Indoors features the top-16 teams in the nation playing for the first team championship of the year. Virginia has won the title at National Indoors five of the last eight years.

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