Cavaliers Defeat Boston College 5-2
March 16, 2018
Charlottesville, Va. âââ€Ã…¡¬ÃƒÆ’Æ’¢ÃƒÆ’¢Ãƒ¢Ã¢â€š¬Ã…¡¬ÃƒÆ’…âہ“ The Virginia men’s tennis team (8-5, 1-1 ACC) picked up its first ACC win of the season, handily downing Boston College (5-6, 0-2) 5-2 at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.
UVA jumped out to an early lead by capturing the doubles point when its No. 2 team of sophomore Carl Soderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) and freshman Matthew Lord (Bloomfield, Conn.), leading 6-5, rallied from a 30-0 deficit in the final game to win the deciding point.
Junior Aswin Lizen (Douglas, Isle of Man) and freshman Gianni Ross (Chicago, Ill.) also picked up a 6-2 decision for the Cavaliers in doubles.
Lord took little time to pick up UVA’s first point in singles, rolling to a 6-2, 6-1 decision against Kent Mukai at the No. 4 position. Ross followed suit with another straight set win, downing Gereon Heitmann 6-2, 6-3 in the top singles match.
No. 28-ranked Lizen provided UVA the winning point with his 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 win at No. 2 singles against Derek Austin. The win improved his record to 22-3 this season.
“This game, at this level, a lot of it is about confidence,” said Virginia coach Andres Pedroso. “Any time you can get one in the win column is great for the confidence. We’ll keep riding the momentum we got from the road trip before this and this win against Boston College.”
Freshman Jefferson Dockter (Atlanta, Ga.) picked up UVA’s fifth win in a gritty comeback effort at No. 6 singles. Trailing 5-2 in the second set, he fought back to force a tiebreaker, winning his match 7-5, 7-6 (7-4). It was the first dual-match victory of his career.
“He’s another guy who has had unbelievable practices for the last three or four weeks. He’s really turned it up a notch in practice,” Pedroso said. “He’s had some tough loses and been a point away in a couple of losses. The guy just keeps coming out and fighting hard. It is a testament to his character.”
Boston College got on the scoreboard with a couple of third-set tiebreaker wins.
Chris Grasel defeated UVA’s redshirt freshman Ammar Alhaqbani (Alexandria, Va.) 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2) and Markus Nordby downed freshman Kyrlo Tsygura (North Potomac, Md.) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6). Virginia returns to action Sunday when the Hoos host No. 18 Notre Dame at 11:30 a.m. at the Snyder Tennis Center.
Virginia 5, Boston College 2Singles competition 1. Gianni Ross (VA) def. Gereon Heitmann (BC) 6-2, 6-32. #28 Aswin Lizen (VA) def. Derek Austin (BC) 6-3, 2-6, 6-13. Chris Grasel (BC) def. Ammar Alhaqbani (VA) 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2)4. Matthew Lord (VA) def. Kent Mukai (BC) 6-2, 6-15. Markus Nordby (BC) def. Kyrylo Tsygura (VA) 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (8-6)6. Jefferson Dockter (VA) def. Max Palmer (BC) 7-5, 7-6 (7-4)
Doubles competition 1. Aswin Lizen/Gianni Ross (VA) def. Derek Austin/ Chris Grasel (BC) 6-22. Carl Soderlund/Matthew Lord (VA) def. Max Palmer/Gereon Heitmann (BC) 7-53. Kent Mukai/Conor Mullins (BC) def. Ammar Alhaqbani/Spencer Bozsik (VA) 6-2
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (4,1, 2, 6, 3, 5) T-2:50 A-115="https://virginiasports.com/http:%3E%3C/ahref="http:>="https://virginiasports.com/http:%3E%3C/ahref="http:>="https://virginiasports.com/http:%3E%3C/ahref="http:>