No. 5 Virginia Hosts No. 9 North Carolina and Virginia Tech This Weekend
Live Stats | Friday Live Video | Sunday Live Video | The Commonwealth Clash
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 5 Virginia men’s tennis team (17-3, 8-2 ACC) plays its final two matches of the regular season, hosting No. 9 North Carolina (16-4, 8-2 ACC) on Friday, April 12 at 3 p.m., and Virginia Tech (15-7, 5-5 ACC) on Sunday, April 14 at 1 p.m. Both matches are scheduled to be played outdoors at the Snyder Tennis Center.
Live scoring and live streaming video will be available for both matches through links posted on VirginiaSports.com.
The Cavaliers remained No. 5 in this week’s Oracle ITA rankings after picking up a pair of road wins over ranked teams last weekend, topping No. 31 Florida State, 4-1, and No. 24 Miami, 4-0. Virginia heads into the final weekend of the season tied for second place in the ACC standings with North Carolina.
Junior Carl Soderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) has moved up to No. 5 in the Oracle ITA singles rankings after improving to 16-3 in singles this season. Söderlund is the reigning ACC Player of the Week after picking up a pair of wins over ranked opponents last week. He downed No. 36 Adria Soriano Barrera of Miami, 6-0, 6-0 win as well as defeating No. 39 Lucas Poullain of Florida State on Friday. This was his third time this season being named the ACC Player of the Week.
Freshman Brandon Nakashima (San Diego, Calif.) is undefeated in his last five matches, including picking up a pair of victories at No. 2 singles last weekend. Nakashima is 11-4 this season with a 6-1 mark on court two. Nakashima is the only Cavalier to be ranked in both singles and doubles, coming in at No. 75 in the former and No. 54 in the latter. Nakashima and senior Henrik Wiersholm (Kirkland, Wash.) are 11-2 in doubles this season, including a 5-0 mark in ACC matches.
Wiersholm in one of two players who will be honored on Sunday during Senior Day. Wiersholm comes into the weekend with a 12-2 overall record, including going 8-1 at No. 3. Wiersholm has a career mark of 38-2 in ACC singles matches, that included a stretch of 28-consecutive conference dual match victories that went from late in his freshman season through March 17 of this year. Wiersholm comes into the weekend with a career record of 82-9 in dual matches.
Senior Aswin Lizen (Douglas, Isle of Man) will also be honored in the pre-match ceremony on Sunday. Lizen picked up a straight-set victory over Miami’s William Grattan-Smith last Sunday to help the Cavaliers pick up the 4-0 road win. The 2017 Atlantic Regional singles champion was ranked as high as No. 10 in the ITA singles rankings last year and was ranked in the top-25 of this year’s preseason rankings.
North Carolina has four players in the singles rankings, led by No. 20 William Blumberg and No. 35 Benjamin Siguoin. Blumberg, who battled injuries this season, is 7-4 overall with a 5-1 mark in conference matches. Sigouin holds an 11-4 singles record, going 7-4 on court two. The Tar Heels are 8-2 in the ACC this season, only losing to Wake Forest and Georgia Tech. North Carolina leads the all-time series, 70-38, including a 6-1 victory last season. In 2017, Virginia picked up four wins over UNC, topping the Tar Heels in the finals NCAA Championship, the semifinals of the ITA National Team Indoor and ACC championships, as well as the regular-season meeting.
Virginia Tech also played at Miami and Florida State last weekend, being edged 4-3 in both matches. No. 71 Jason Kros leads the Hokies with a 12-8 record at No. 1 singles.
Virginia Tech will play at Louisville on Friday before heading to Charlottesville. UVA leads the all-time series, 57-9.
There is one Commonwealth Clash point on the line in Sunday’s match. The Commonwealth Clash presented by Virginia529 is a head-to-head, points-based competition between the athletic teams at University of Virginia and Virginia Tech. The Commonwealth Clash encourages a friendly, statewide rivalry between the two schools across all school-sponsored sports with 21 individual event points on the line. The school that accumulates 11 points or more will be crowned the winner and take home the Virginia529 Commonwealth Clash trophy. Visit www.TheCommonwealthClash.com for more information. Virginia Tech currently leads, 7.5-6.5.
The seeding and bracket for the 2019 ACC Men’s Tennis Championship will be announced on Sunday evening. The tournament is being held from April 17-21 at the Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C. The top-four seeds in the bracket will have a double-bye into Friday’s quarterfinal matches.