Virginia Tops UCF, 4-3
March 11, 2018
ORLANDO, Fla. – The Virginia men’s tennis team (7-5, 0-1 ACC) picked up a 4-3 victory over UCF (4-6, 0-0 AAC) on Sunday (March 11) at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.
The Knights won the doubles point, but the Cavaliers picked up four singles victories to battle for the road win. Freshman Matthew Lord (Bloomfield, Conn.) clinched the match with a victory at No. 5 singles.
Sophomore Carl Soderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) got things started for the Cavaliers, tying the match with a quick 6-3, 6-3 victory over Korey Lovett on court one. Freshman Gianni Ross (Chicago, Ill.) gave Virginia a 2-1 lead with a 6-0, 6-4 victory over Gabriel Decamps on court three.
Redshirt freshman Ammar Alhaqbani (Alexandria, Va.) trailed 5-2 in his opening set on court four against Alan Rubio, but won a deuce point on set point to keep things going. Alhaqbani had another deuce to try to stave off a second set point when trailing 5-4, but Rubio prevailed to take the first set. Rubio took the second set 6-4 to tie the match at two. Rubio is the Knights’ only ranked singles player at No. 124.
Junior Aswin Lizen (Douglas, Isle of Man) won his first set 6-4 on court two, but was deadlocked 5-5 in the second set against Mikhail Sokolovskiy. Lizen held serve to go up 6-5 and then broke Sokolovskiy to take the second set 7-5, giving the Cavaliers a 3-2 lead.
Lord dropped his first set, 6-4, but won his second 6-2 to force a third set against Eero Vasa. In the third set, Lord faced deuce for match-point, leading 5-4. He won the point to pick up the 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 victory as well as clinching the victory for the Cavaliers.
On court six, freshman Kyrylo Tsygura (North Potomac, Md.) trailed 5-3 in his first set, but won four-straight games to take the set 7-5, but Vasyl Kiselyov won the final two sets 6-1, 6-3 to give UCF its third point.
The Cavaliers return home on Friday, March 16, hosting Boston College at 3 p.m. at the Snyder Tennis Center. Virginia will close out the weekend taking on Notre Dame on Sunday, March 18, with that match time moved up to 11:30 a.m.
Virginia 4, UCF 3
Singles competition
1. #74 Carl Soderlund (VA) def. Korey Lovett (UCF-M) 6-3, 6-3
2. #28 Aswin Lizen (VA) def. Mikhail Sokolovskiy (UCF-M) 6-4, 7-5
3. Gianni Ross (VA) def. Gabriel DeCamps (UCF-M) 6-0, 6-4
4. #124 Alan Rubio (UCF-M) def. Ammar Alhaqbani (VA) 6-4, 6-4
5. Matthew Lord (VA) def. Eero Vasa (UCF-M) 4-6, 6-2, 6-4
6. Vasyl Kiselyov (UCF-M) def. Kyrylo Tsygura (VA) 5-7, 6-1, 6-3
Doubles competition
1. #11 Korey Lovett/Eero Vasa (UCF-M) def. Aswin Lizen/Gianni Ross (VA) 6-3
2. Carl Soderlund/Matthew Lord (VA) vs. Alan Rubio/Mikhail Sokolovskiy (UCF-M) no result
3. Gabriel DeCamps/Danny Kerznerman (UCF-M) def. Ammar Alhaqbani/Spencer Bozsik (VA) 6-2
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (1,3,4,2,5,6)
T-2:50 A-180