No. 2 Virginia Faces Texas in NCAA Quarterfinals
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No. 2 Virginia at 2017 NCAA Tennis Championship | |
Date & Time | May 18-23, 2016 |
Location | Athens, Ga. | Dan Magill Tennis Complex |
Coverage | Live Scoring and Video | Interactive Bracket | Tournament Central | Buy Tickets |
Additional Information | Twitter | Coach Boland Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | 2017 Stats | Match Notes (.pdf) |
May 19, 2017
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 2 Virginia men’s tennis team (31-1) continues its NCAA team title defense by taking on 10-seed Texas (22-8) in the quarterfinals of the 2017 NCAA Men’s Tennis Championships on Saturday, May 20 at 12 p.m. at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex in Athens, Ga. Live scoring and video for the matches will be available with the links posted on VirginiaSports.com.
The winner will advance to the men’s semifinals, which will take place on Monday, May 22 at 12 p.m., taking on either 4-seed Ohio State or 6-seed TCU.
Texas upset 7-seed Baylor, 4-1, on Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals. The Longhorns dropped the doubles point but won four-straight singles matches at one, two, four and five to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2014. Texas is the No. 10 seed in the tournament, but is ranked No. 11 in the ITA rankings.
The Cavaliers are 9-2 all-time against the Longhorns and have won the last five meetings. Texas’ last win over Virginia came in 2006.
Virginia advanced with a 4-0 win over Florida. All of the Cavaliers’ victories in this year’s NCAA Championship have had a 4-0 final score. Seniors Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Charlotte, N.C.) and J.C. Aragone (Yorba Linda, Calif.) as well as freshman Carl Soderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) picked up the singles victories for the Cavaliers. After junior Collin Altamirano (Sacramento, Calif.) clinched the UVA victories in the first and second round matches, Aragone had the honor against Florida. Aragone improved to 11-1 in singles in NCAA dual matches in his career while Kwiatkowski picked up his 13th win to one loss. This was Söderlund’s first decision in an NCAA singles match.
In doubles, Aragone and Altamirano won their ninth-straight doubles match, improving to 19-3 on the season at No. 3 doubles. Kwiatkowski and senior Alexander Ritschard (Zurich, Switzerland) also tallied their ninth-consecutive win at No. 2 and improved to 22-1 overall this season as a tandem.
The Cavaliers have won three of the last four NCAA Championships (2013, 15 and 16), have now advanced to the quarterfinals each of the last 13 years. Virginia has reached the semifinals in each of the last seven years and nine of the last 10 seasons. Virginia is the only ACC team to ever make it to the semifinals of the tournament, however, Wake Forest and North Carolina are playing one another on Saturday at 4 p.m. with a spot in the semifinals on the line. No. 5 UCLA and host-team No. 13 Georgia will also play on Saturday at 4 p.m. to determine the fourth semifinalist.