No. 1 Virginia Opens ITA Indoors with 4-0 Win
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Box Score Feb. 17, 2017
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The top-ranked Virginia men’s tennis team (6-0, 1-0 ACC) opened up the 2017 Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Men’s Team Indoor Championship with a 4-0 victory over Utah State (7-4) on Friday (Feb. 17) at the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar’s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Va.
The Cavaliers picked up with doubles point and followed with victories at two, four and five singles to advance in the championship. Virginia will face No. 7 UCLA (7-1) on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. in the quarterfinals.
“Congratulations to Utah State as I thought they played a really good match,” said Virginia head coach Brian Boland. “They came out strong in doubles and made it tough for us to finish the doubles point. We got way up at one and it looked like we were going to clinch the point a lot sooner than we did, but they hung in there and kept competing. They made us work hard. After the doubles point, the guys settled down a bit and played pretty good singles across the board. It is always tough to play your first match. In a tournament, it takes awhile to get going. ”
Senior J.C. Aragone (Yorba Linda, Calif.) and junior Collin Altamirano (Sacramento, Calif.) opened the match with a 6-4 victory at No. 3 doubles. Senior Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Charlotte, N.C.) and junior Alexander Ritschard (Zurich, Switzerland) picked up a 7-5 victory at No. 2 to clinch the doubles point.
In singles, Kwiatkowski finished off a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Kai Wehnelt at No. 2 to put UVA up 2-0. Ritschard downed Samuel Serrano 6-2, 6-1 at five before Aragone closed out the match with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Sergiu Bucur at No. 4.
Dual matches are scheduled at 9 a.m., 12 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday with the championship match set for 11 a.m. on Monday. Each of the 16 teams is guaranteed three matches during the championship. Fans can attend the four-day championship free of charge.
FloTennis will be on site providing live streaming coverage of all four days of competition. FloTennis is a subscription-based service with monthly and annual rate options.
Live scoring will be available through VirginiaSports.com.
#1 Virginia 4, Utah State 0
Singles competition
1. Collin Altamirano (VA) vs. Jack Swindells (USU) 6-1, 4-3, unfinished
2. #28 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (VA) def. Kai Wehnelt (USU) 6-0, 6-4
3. Carl Soderlund (VA) vs. Jaime Barajas (USU) 6-3, 4-1, unfinished
4. #64 J.C. Aragone (VA) def. Sergiu Bucur (USU) 6-1, 7-5
5. Alexander Ritschard (VA) def. Samuel Serrano (USU) 6-2, 6-1
6. Henrik Wiersholm (VA) vs. Jonas Maier (USU) 6-0, 4-6, unfinished
Doubles competition
1. #55 Luca Corinteli/Carl Soderlund (VA) vs. Samuel Serrano/Kai Wehnelt (USU) 6-6, unfinished
2. Thai-Son Kwiatkowski/Alexander Ritschard (VA) def. Jonas Maier/Jack Swindells (USU) 7-5
3. Collin Altamirano/J.C. Aragone (VA) def. Andrew Nakajima/Jaime Barajas (USU) 6-4
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (6,2,4,3,5,1)
T-2:23 A-614