Virginia Edged by Miami, 4-3
April 6, 2018
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 42 Virginia men’s tennis team (11-8, 4-4 ACC) fell 4-3 to No. 43 Miami (12-7, 3-4 ACC) on Friday (April 6) at the Snyder Tennis Center in Charlottesville, Va.
Miami won the doubles point after edging the Cavaliers in a tiebreaker on court one. The Cavaliers picked up three singles victories to go up 3-1, but the Hurricanes won the final three matches, with a victory on court six sealing the match.
“I thought the guys fought hard today and really, we were just a point away from winning the doubles point,” said Virginia head coach Andres Pedroso. “We had a couple of guys who weren’t feeling their best today, but they laid it on the line. Everyone gave their best effort.”
Miami started doubles with a 6-3 win on court three. Virginia countered with sophomore Carl Soderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) and freshman Matthew Lord (Bloomfield, Conn.) picking up a late break to win 7-5 on court two. Junior Aswin Lizen (Douglas, Isle of Man) and freshman Gianni Ross (Chicago, Ill.) were serving for the match, 5-4, on court one when Adria Soriano and Christian Langmo picked up a break to tie things up. Both teams held to force a tiebreaker with Soriano and Langmo winning 7-4 to give the point to the Hurricanes.
The Cavaliers rallied in singles, with S̮ծԮԦderlund, Lizen and freshman Kyrylo Tsygura (North Potomac, Md.) picking up quick straight-set victories on courts one, three and five to give UVA a 3-1 lead. Miami countered soon after with a straight-set victory on four to put the match at 3-2. On court two, Ross, who won his first set 6-4 over Christian Langmo, fell 6-1 in the second set and battled through the third before falling 6-4 to knot the match at three. Freshman Jefferson Dockter (Atlanta, Ga.) won his first set on court six, 7-5, but fell 6-4 in the second to force a third set. Tatsuki Shimamoto won the third set 6-2 to give the Hurricanes the victory.
“Great effort today by Jefferson,” Pedroso said. “He played a really good first set, 7-5, against a really good player and he fought until the end. Shimamoto really locked in during the third set and just did not miss. I am really proud of Jefferson. He has come a long way.”
The Cavaliers close out the weekend by hosting No. 12 Florida State (22-2, 6-1 ACC) on Sunday, April 8 at 1 p.m. Admission is free for all Virginia home tennis matches.
#43 University of Miami 4, #42 Virginia 3
Singles competition
1. #35 Carl Soderlund (VA) def. #68 Adria Soriano (UM) 6-2, 6-1
2. #107 Christian Langmo (UM) def. Gianni Ross (VA) 4-6, 6-1, 6-4
3. #33 Aswin Lizen (VA) def. Dane Dunlap (UM) 6-3, 6-0
4. Bojan Jankulovski (UM) def. Matthew Lord (VA) 6-1, 6-4
5. Kyrylo Tsygura (VA) def. Niclas Genovese (UM) 6-1, 6-0
6. Tatsuki Shimamoto (UM) def. Jefferson Dockter (VA) 5-7, 6-4, 6-2
Doubles competition
1. #26 Adria Soriano/Christian Langmo (UM) def. #20 Aswin Lizen/Gianni Ross (VA) 7-6 (0-4)
2. Carl Soderlund/Matthew Lord (VA) def. Bojan Jankulovski/Dane Dunlap (UM) 7-5
3. Pablo Aycart/Nile Clark (UM) def. Kyrylo Tsygura/Jefferson Dockter (VA) 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2, 1); Singles (5,1,3,4,2,6)
T-3:17 A-387