No. 5 Virginia Downs Duke, 4-2
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 5 Virginia men’s tennis team (15-3, 6-2 ACC) picked up a 4-2 victory over Duke (7-11, 1-6 ACC) on Friday (March 29) at the Snyder Tennis Center.
The Cavaliers won the doubles point, but fell behind 2-1 after Duke picked up a pair of straight-set victories on courts five and six. The Cavaliers gutted out wins on courts two, three and four to seal the victory. Senior Henrik Wiersholm (Kirkland, Wash.) clinched the match with his victory on court three.
“Credit to Duke for a great match,” said Virginia head coach Andres Pedroso. “I thought they competed really hard and I thought they played really well. Our guys fought until the end, stayed the course and stayed composed, which is what we’ve done all year. I have to be proud of the team for that.”
Wiersholm and freshman Brandon Nakashima (San Diego, Calif.) started the match with a 6-2 victory on the top doubles court. The Cavaliers saw early leads on courts two and three disappear with court two going to a tiebreaker. Court three also seemed destined for a tiebreaker, but senior Aswin Lizen (Douglas, Isle and Man) and sophomore Gianni Ross (Chicago, Ill.) picked up a break to close out a 7-5 victory and earn Virginia the doubles point. Virginia was leading 4-2 in the tiebreaker on two when it was abandoned.
In singles, Lizen and freshman William Woodall (Washington, D.C.) both lost their matches in straight sets on courts five and six, giving Duke a 2-1 lead. Nakashima, Wiersholm and Ross all won their first sets, but all lost their second sets, with Nakashima being edged 7-5 on the top court by No. 75 Nick Stachowiak and Wiersholm losing a tiebreaker, 8-6, to determine his second set against Catalin Mateas on court three. Junior Carl Söderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) had lost his first set, 4-6, but won his second, 6-3, to also force a third set.
Ross rebounded from his 6-2 loss in the second set to win 6-2 in the third against Sean Sculley, tying the match at two.
Courts one, two and three were all neck-and-neck in their third sets. Söderlund closed out his match against Spencer Furman on court two, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, giving UVA the 3-2 edge. Both Wiersholm and Nakashima were simultaneously serving for the win on courts one and three and both went down 14-40 in their final game. They also then both rallied to get to deuce. Wiersholm served his deuce point first, winning the point to clinch his win on court three and the victory for the Cavaliers. As the two teams had previously agreed to play the match to clinch, Nakashima’s match was abandoned at that deuce point with Nakashima leading 7-5, 5-7, 5-3.
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.