No. 2 Virginia Plays at Louisville on Friday

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March 3, 2016 –

The No. 2 Virginia men’s tennis team (8-2, 0-0 ACC) opens conference play with a match at Louisville (6-5, 0-0 ACC) on Friday, March 4 at 5 p.m. at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center in Louisville, Ky.

Live scoring will be available on the GoCards.com website with that link posted on VirginiaSports.com.

Friday’s match will be the first for the Cavaliers against an ACC opponent since falling to UNC, 4-2, in the finals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, a loss that snapped a streak of 140-consecutive dual match victories against ACC foes, the longest winning streak in conference history, in any sport. The run started with a victory over Wake Forest on May 14, 2006.

The Cavaliers followed the loss against UNC with a 4-3 setback at No. 11 Illinois last Saturday (Feb. 27). It was the first time since 2007 that UVA lost back-to-back matches. The Cavaliers have not lost three-straight matches since 2006.

Junior J.C. Aragone (Yorba Linda, Calif.) was one of two Cavaliers to win in singles at Illinois, battling for a 7-6 (7-0), 7-6 (8-6) victory over Julian Childers. Aragone is a perfect 8-0 this season in dual matches and 12-2 overall. Aragone has never lost a singles match in an ACC dual, going 6-0 as a freshman and 11-0 last season.

Sophomore Henrik Wiersholm (Kirkland, Wash.) also notched a singles victory at Illinois, winning 6-4, 6-2 at No. 5 over Pablo Landa. The Cavaliers are a perfect 8-0 at No. 5 singles this season and a combined 16-2 on the bottom two courts.

Sophomore Collin Altamirano, ranked No. 29 in the ITA rankings, suffered his first singles loss of the season at Illinois, falling 6-2, 6-3 while playing at No. 1 against 11th-ranked Jared Hiltzik. Altamirano is 8-1 this season in singles, including posting a 5-0 record at No. 3.

In doubles, senior Jonathan Cornish (London, England) and redshirt junior Harrison Richmond (Pawley’s Island, S.C.) improved to 3-0 in dual matches with a 6-4 victory over Julian Childers/Pengxuan Jiang at No. 3. Junior Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Charlotte, N.C.) and senior Mac Styslinger (Birmingham, Ala.), who had their match at No. 1 doubles against the Illini abandoned in the middle of a tiebreaker, are 5-0 in dual matches this season and 12-3 overall. Kwiatkowski/Styslinger are ranked sixth in the latest ITA rankings.

Louisville is unranked and does not have any ranked singles players or doubles teams. The Cardinals have won three-straight matches but have not played since topping Michigan State, 4-1, on Feb. 14. The Cardinals are slated to take on Murray State on Friday morning at 9:30 before facing the Cavaliers. Alex Gornet has been playing at No. 1, going 3-4 on the top court in duals and 15-10 in singles overall this season. Courtney Lock, who has been playing primarily at No. 5, is the only Cardinal with a winning record in duals, with a 4-3 mark.

The Cavaliers close out the weekend by heading to Blacksburg, Va., to face No. 53 Virginia Tech on Sunday, March 6 at 6 p.m. before spending spring recess in Tulsa, Okla., taking on Tulsa on Thursday, March 10 and Oklahoma on Saturday, March 12. The Cavaliers return home to host N.C. State on Friday, March 18 at 3 p.m. at the Snyder Tennis Center.