Virginia Downs Temple, 4-3
Jan. 21, 2018
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 12 Virginia men’s tennis team (2-0) picked up a 4-3 victory over Temple (1-1) on Sunday (January 21) at the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar’s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Va.
For the second straight match, the Cavaliers were tied with their opponent, 3-3, with the play on court five determining the final outcome. For the second straight game, freshman Kyrylo Tsygura (North Potomac, Md.) rallied to win on court five and secure the victory for the Cavaliers.
“We were in the same position today as we were yesterday and once again, I thought the guys kept their composure really well and they handled it beautifully,” said Virginia head coach Andres Pedroso. “Everyone really competed on every court. As long as the guys are doing that, we are in good shape. We had some slow starts on some courts, but it didn’t faze us. That is what I am most proud of. We lost the doubles point. We went down a couple of breaks on a couple of courts, but the guys kept fighting. I felt that Matt Lord did a good job at one staying in the match. He played a long 6-3, 6-3. I give a lot of credit to the guys.”
Tsygura and junior Aswin Lizen (Douglas, Isle of Man) started things off for the Cavaliers with a 6-2 victory in doubles at court two, but Temple won on one and three to secure the doubles point.
In singles, Lizen improved to 14-1 on the season with a 6-1, 6-1 victory over Alberto Caceres Casas on court three. After Temple picked up a win on court one to take a 2-1 lead, freshman Gianni Ross (Chicago, Ill.) who joined the team at the start of the spring semester two weeks ago, tied the match with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Juan Araoz on court two. Temple went up 3-2 with a win on six, but redshirt freshman Ammar Alhaqbani (Alexandria, Va.) closed out a 7-5, 6-2 victory at four to knot the match at three. Tsygura won his first set, 6-1, but stumbled in the second set and fell 6-3 to set up the deciding third set. Tsygura went up 5-0 in the final set and closed it out to win 6-1 and secure the victory for the Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers will be home next weekend, hosting ITA Kick-Off Weekend matches on Saturday and Sunday, January 27-28. Virginia, Columbia, Ole Miss and Texas Tech will all be competing with one team advancing to the 2018 ITA National Men’s Team Indoor Championship, being held Feb. 16-19 in Seattle, Washington. Virginia opens play by taking on Texas Tech on Saturday at 10 a.m. with Columbia and Ole Miss squaring off at 2 p.m. Admission is free for all Virginia home tennis matches. Live scoring and streaming video will be available through a link on VirginiaSports.com.
#12 Virginia 4, Temple 3
Singles competition
1. Thomas Sevel (TEMPLE) def. Matthew Lord (VA) 6-3, 6-3
2. Gianni Ross (VA) def. Juan Araoz (TEMPLE) 6-3, 6-4
3. #40 Aswin Lizen (VA) def. Alberto CaceresCasas (TEMPLE) 6-1, 6-1
4. Ammar Alhaqbani (VA) def. Eric Biscoveanu (TEMPLE) 7-5, 6-2
5. Kyrylo Tsygura (VA) def. Mark Wallner (TEMPLE) 6-1, 3-6, 6-1
6. Francisco Bohorquez (TEMPLE) def. Spencer Bozsik (VA) 6-3, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. Alberto CaceresCasas/Thomas Sevel (TEMPLE) def. Ammar Alhaqbani/Matthew Lord (VA) 7-5
2. Aswin Lizen/Kyrylo Tsygura (VA) def. Michael Haelen/Eric Biscoveanu (TEMPLE) 6-2
3. Juan Araoz/Mark Wallner (TEMPLE) def. Jefferson Dockter/Gianni Ross (VA) 6-4
Order of finish: Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (3,1,2,6,4,5)
T-2:20 A-203