Virginia Falls 4-1 to Kentucky
Feb. 4, 2018
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia men’s tennis team (3-3) fell 4-1 to Kentucky (6-2) on Sunday (February 4) at the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar’s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Va.
The Cavaliers won the doubles point but the Wildcats picked up victories on the lower four singles courts to clinch the match.
“We keep improving in doubles, so I think the most important thing is we need to get back on the practice court on Tuesday and really work on some specific things in singles,” said Virginia head coach Andres Pedroso. “We need to keep chipping away at these guy’s games and working on specific things so they can keep progressing. Today we were beaten because [Kentucky] were better tennis players. It is not that we didn’t compete. I feel that, tennis-wise, they beat us with the X’s and O’s. We need to get better at a few things individually in order to beat a team like that in singles.”
In doubles, the freshman tandem of Gianni Ross (Chicago, Ill.) and Kyrylo Tsygura (North Potomac, Md.) picked up a 6-2 victory on court three to get things started. After Kentucky tied things up with a victory on two, the point came down to the play on court one. Redshirt freshman Ammar Alhaqbani (Alexandria, Va.) and freshman Matthew Lord (Bloomfield, Conn.) were knotted 6-6 with Cesar Bourgois and Enzo Wallart, forcing a tiebreaker to determine the point. The Cavaliers dominated the extra play, winning 7-1 to take a 1-0 lead in the match.
In singles, junior Aswin Lizen (Douglas, Isle of Man) won his first set 6-1 on court one over Will Bushamuka, but the Wildcats followed with first-set victories on courts 1-5, including picking up late breaks on courts two and three to win both by a score of 7-5. Lizen and Bushamuka battled through the second set to a 6-6 deadlock. The two were embroiled in a fierce tiebreaker, which was also knotted at 6-6, when the match was abandoned.
The Wildcats picked up straight-set victories on courts three, four, five and six to secure the victory.
The Cavaliers are home again next weekend, playing a doubleheader on Sunday, Feb. 11 at the Boar’s Head Sports Club. Virginia will take on Monmouth at 12 p.m. and Liberty at 5 p.m.
Admission is free for all Virginia home tennis matches. Please note that due to construction, parking will be limited at the Boar’s Head Sports Club. Fans are encouraged to arrive early. Live scoring and streaming video will be available through a link on VirginiaSports.com.
Kentucky 4, Virginia 1
Singles competition
1. #40 Aswin Lizen (VA) vs. #84 Will Bushamuka (KENTUCKY) 6-1, 6-6, unfinished
2. Gianni Ross (VA) vs. #34 Ryotaro Matsumura (KENTUCKY) 5-7, 2-4, unfinished
3. Enzo Wallart (KENTUCKY) def. Ammar Alhaqbani (VA) 7-5, 6-1
4. #77 Trey Yates (KENTUCKY) def. Matthew Lord (VA) 6-3, 6-2
5. Kento Yamada (KENTUCKY) def. Kyrylo Tsygura (VA) 6-1, 6-3
6. Austin Hussey (KENTUCKY) def. Spencer Bozsik (VA) 6-3, 6-1
Doubles competition
1. Matthew Lord/Ammar Alhaqbani (VA) def. Cesar Bourgois/Enzo Wallart (KENTUCKY) 7-6 (1)
2. Ryotaro Matsumura/Gus Benson (KENTUCKY) def. Aswin Lizen/Spencer Bozsik (VA) 6-3
3. Gianni Ross/Kyrylo Tsygura (VA) def. Alex Dominguez/Kento Yamada (KENTUCKY) 6-2
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (4,6,5,3)
T-2:30 A-216