Virginia Tops Stanford to Advance to ITA Indoors Quarterfinals
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CHICAGO – The Virginia men’s tennis team (8-1) opened up the 2019 Oracle ITA National Men’s Team Indoor Championship with a 4-2 victory over Stanford (6-2) on Friday (Feb. 15) at the Midtown Athletic Club in Chicago, Ill.
The No. 9 seed Cardinal won the doubles point, but the Cavaliers won three-straight singles matches to go up 3-1. Stanford picked up a win on court four to make it 3-2, but junior Carl Soderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) clinched the victory with a win on the top singles court.
Virginia, the No. 8 seed, will face top-seeded Ohio State (10-0) on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET in the quarterfinals. Live scoring and live video will be available for the matches through links posted on VirginiaSports.com.
Freshman Brandon Nakashima (San Diego, Calif.) started the Virginia rally by downing No. 33 William Genesen, 6-1, 6-2, on court three to knot the match at one. Moments later, senior Aswin Lizen (Douglas, Isle of Man) finished up a 6-1, 6-4 victory on court six over Sangreet Sridhar. Freshman Ryan Goetz (Greenlawn, N.Y.) put UVA up 3-2 with a 6-4, 6-0 victory over Michael Genender. Stanford picked up a point on court four to make the match 3-2.
On court one, Söderlund won his first set 6-4 over No. 10 Axel Geller. Geller was serving down 5-6. Söderlund jumped out to a 40-0 advantage and finished off the game to pick up a break and clinch the victory for the Cavaliers.
Senior Henrik Wiersholm (Kirkland, Wash.) rebounded from a first-set loss to take his second set, 6-4, over No. 61 Alexandre Rotsaert, forcing a third set on court two, which was abandoned.
Semifinals will be played on Sunday (Feb. 17) with the championship match scheduled for Monday (Feb. 18) at 1 p.m.
The ITA Division I National Men’s Team Indoor Championship is in its 44th year of existence. Fifteen teams qualified for the event by winning their respective 2019 ITA Kick-Off Weekend four-team regional, while Illinois received an automatic bid for being the host site. The teams will compete in a single-elimination tournament over a four-day span to crown a national indoor champion. Each team is guaranteed three matches at the event.
The Cavaliers have won six ITA National Team Indoor Championships, including four-straight from 2008 to 2011 and most recently in 2017 when the tournament was held in Charlottesville as well as the 2009 title when it was held in this same location in Chicago. UVA has made eight appearances in the finals. Only Stanford (12) and UCLA (7) have won more ITA Indoors titles than Virginia.
Tickets are $10 per person, per day for any non-Midtown Chicago member. Fans who are staying in The Hotel at Midtown are considered members and therefore will not be charged for the event. Parking is located directly across the street from the club and is also $10 per day.