No. 5 Virginia Hosts Duke on Friday
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 5 Virginia men’s tennis team (14-3, 5-2 ACC) will take on Duke (7-10, 1-5 ACC) on Friday, March 29 outdoors at the Snyder Tennis Center.
Live scoring and live streaming video will be available through links posted on VirginiaSports.com.
The Cavaliers remained No. 5 in this week’s Oracle ITA rankings after picking up wins over Georgia Tech (4-0) and Clemson (6-1) last weekend in Charlottesville. The Cavaliers have three ranked singles players, led by junior Carl Soderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) who is at No. 11. Freshman Brandon Nakashima (San Diego, Calif.) is ranked No. 63 while his fellow first year Ryan Goetz (Greenlawn, N.Y.) is at No. 119.
Söderlund won a pair of singles matches on the top court last weekend. Söderlund has won his last three matches, all in straight sets. Both Söderlund and sophomore Gianni Ross (Chicago, Ill.) are 5-1 in conference singles matches this spring, while senior Henrik Wiersholm (Kirkland, Wash.) is 4-1. Freshman William Woodall (Washington, D.C.) improved to 2-0 in ACC dual matches with a 6-0, 7-5 victory over Clemson’s Mike Agee on Sunday.
Söderlund and sophomore Matthew Lord (Bloomfield, Conn.) went 2-0 in doubles last weekend, improving to 6-3 on the season. Ross and senior Aswin Lizen (Douglas, Isle of Man) also picked up a pair of doubles wins last weekend and improved to 6-3 this season. Nakashima and Wiersholm had two unfinished matches last weekend, but lead the team with a 9-2 mark in doubles. That last tandem is No. 64 in the ITA doubles rankings.
Duke is coming off a 4-3 loss last Friday to Miami. The Blue Devils held a 3-0 lead before the Hurricanes swept the final four courts to take the match. The Blue Devils have won the doubles point in four of the last five matches, but are 2-3 overall in that span. Duke’s lone conference win this season is a 4-0 victory over Clemson. Nick Stachowiak leads the team with a 13-7 overall record and an 8-5 mark on court one. He is currently ranked No. 75 in singles.
Duke holds a 54-43 advantage in the all-time series, including a 4-3 win last year in Durham. Virginia head coach Andres Pedroso is a Blue Devil alum, helping to lead Duke to four ACC titles (1998-01) while earning two All-America honors.
The Cavaliers will be on the road next weekend, playing at No. 26 Florida State on Friday and No. 22 Miami on Sunday. They return home for the final two matches of the regular-season, hosting No. 11 North Carolina on Friday, April 12 and Virginia Tech on Sunday, April 14.