No. 5 Virginia Tops Clemson, 6-1
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 5 Virginia men’s tennis team (14-3, 5-2 ACC) picked up a 6-1 victory over Clemson (8-12, 1-6 ACC) on Sunday (March 24) at the Snyder Tennis Center.
The Cavaliers won the doubles point and picked then up three straight-set singles victories with junior Carl Söderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) clinching the match with a win on court one. After UVA had a 4-0 lead, however, the three remaining matches battled through tie breakers to determine their winners.
“All the credit goes to Clemson as they fought really hard today,” said Virginia head coach Andres Pedroso. “I thought our guys responded in a great way as far as how we competed. I am proud of the way they played and for the composure they maintained on the court. We are definitely pleased with the two wins this weekend and now look forward to getting back to work to prepare for Duke next weekend.”
Söderlund and sophomore Matthew Lord (Bloomfield, Conn.) started the day with a dominant 6-0 victory on doubles court two. Sophomore Gianni Ross (Chicago, Ill.) and senior Aswin Lizen (Douglas, Isle of Man) clinched the point with a 6-3 win on court three.
In singles, Lizen and freshmen William Woodall (Washington, D.C.) finished within moments of one another, with Lizen downing Jacob Juhn 6-2, 6-3, on court five and Woodall closing out a 6-0, 7-5, victory on court six over Mike Agee. Söderlund, who went down 0-2 in his first set, finished strong to top Simon Baudry 6-3, 6-3 to give UVA the 4-0 advantage.
The other three matches were much tighter. Both Ross and Lord won their first sets, but had their second sets go to tiebreakers. Lord fell 7-3 in his second-set tiebreaker and then 10-4 in the super tiebreaker to determine the third set, giving Clemson its lone point. Ross fell 10-8 in his second-set tiebreaker and fell behind early in the super tiebreaker, only to come back to win it 12-10 and take his match 6-2, 6-7 (8), 1-0 (10) over Todor Giusca.
In the final match to finish, freshman Brandon Nakashima (San Diego, Calif.) split sets with Yizhou Li. However, unlike Ross and Lord, they played a traditional third set as it had begun prior to Söderlund clinching the victory. Li and Nakashima ended the third set in a 6-6 tie, forcing a tiebreaker, with Nakashima finally getting a two-point advantage and winning it 11-9.
Virginia closes out its current homestand by hosting Duke (7-10, 1-5 ACC) on Friday, March 29 at 3 p.m. at the Snyder Tennis Center.