Virginia Falls to No. 12 Florida State, 5-2
April 8, 2018
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 42 Virginia men’s tennis team (11-9, 4-5 ACC) fell 5-2 to No. 12 Florida State (23-2, 7-1 ACC) on Sunday (April 8) at the Snyder Tennis Center in Charlottesville, Va.
FSU won the doubles point and won the first three completed singles matches to clinch the victory. The Cavaliers battled through tiebreakers on the final three singles courts, picking up victories on courts one and two.
“My guys are warriors,” said Virginia head coach Andres Pedroso. “They have done it all year. Everyone fights. Everyone competes. We have just come up a couple of points short. The culture of this program has not changed. If anything, I think this adversity has made them stronger. You are going to see these guys in time really come through in the clutch and show everyone how much character and will they have. We can play with the best teams in the country and in my opinion, we can beat the best teams in the country. I know that is going to happen before the postseason is over. We are a really good team. We just need to win a few more points here and there.”
Florida State started the day with a 6-3 victory on doubles court three. Sophomore Carl Soderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) and Matthew Lord (Bloomfield, Conn.) countered with a 7-5 victory on court one, but the Seminoles picked up the point with a 6-4 victory on court two.
In singles, the Seminoles picked up wins on courts five and six to take a 3-0 lead. Lord battled on court three, but was edged 7-5 in both sets by No. 32 Lucas Poullain to secure the victory for FSU.
On court one, S̮ծԮԦderlund was topped in a tiebreaker, 7-4, to decide the first set, but downed Aziz Dougaz 6-3 in the second set to force a third set super tiebreaker which S̮ծԮԦderlund won 10-6. On court two, Lizen won his first set 6-4 over Guy Irandukunda. Irandukunda staved off two match points in the second set to force a tiebreaker. Lizen prevailed 8-6 in the tiebreaker to pick up a top-20 victory over the No. 18-ranked Iradukunda. On court four, freshman Kyrylo Tsygura (North Potomac, Md.) won his first set in a 7-4 tiebreaker, but dropped his second set to force a third-set super tiebreaker in which he fell 10-7 to Jose Gracia.
The Cavaliers close out the home portion of their schedule next weekend by hosting No. 25 NC State on Friday, April 13 at 3 p.m., and No. 1 Wake Forest on Sunday, April 15 at 1 p.m., at the Snyder Tennis Center. Admission is free for all Virginia home tennis matches.
#12 Florida State University 5, #42 Virginia 2
Singles competition
1. #35 Carl Soderlund (VA) def. #51 Aziz Dougaz (FS) 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 1-0 (10-6)
2. #33 Aswin Lizen (VA) def. #18 Guy Iradukunda (FS) 6-4, 7-6 (8-6)
3. #32 Lucas Poullain (FS) def. Matthew Lord (VA) 7-5, 7-5
4. Jose Gracia (FS) def. Kyrylo Tsygura (VA) 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, 1-0 (10-7)
5. Chase Wood (FS) def. Jefferson Dockter (VA) 6-2, 6-0
6. Rana Roop Bhullar (FS) def. Spencer Bozsik (VA) 6-3, 6-4
Doubles competition
1. Carl Soderlund/Matthew Lord (VA) def. Aziz Dougaz/Guy Iradukunda (FS) 7-5
2. Jose Gracia/Terrell Whitehurst (FS) def. Aswin Lizen/Kyrylo Tsygura (VA) 6-4
3. Lucas Poullain/Chase Wood (FS) def. Spencer Bozsik/Jefferson Dockter (VA) 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (5,6,3,1,2,4)
T-2:40 A-272