No. 5 Virginia Defeats Virginia Tech, 4-2, in a Commonwealth Clash match
The Cavaliers closed out the regular season with a 4-2 victory over Virginia Tech.
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 5 Virginia men’s tennis team (19-3, 10-2 ACC) closed out the regular season with a 4-2 victory over Virginia Tech (16-8, 6-6 ACC) on Sunday (April 14) on the indoor courts at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.
The Cavaliers battled back after dropping the doubles point, picking up straight-set wins on courts two, three and five to take a 3-1 lead. The Hokies picked up a point with a win on singles court six to make it 3-2. Freshman Ryan Goetz (Greenlawn, N.Y.) sealed the UVA win with a dramatic three-set victory on court four.
“Great match by Virginia Tech,” said head coach Andres Pedroso. “They came out and played really solid in doubles, but we bounced back. Everybody hung in there. It was a great test for us before the postseason starts next week.”
In doubles, senior Henrik Wiersholm (Kirkland, Wash.) and freshman Brandon Nakashima (San Diego, Calif.) started the match with a 6-3 win on court two, but Virginia Tech tied things up with a 6-3 win on court three. The Hokies won 6-4 on the top court to secure the doubles point.
In singles, Nakashima got the Cavaliers on the scoreboard with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Henrik Korsgaard on court two. Sophomore Gianni Ross (Chicago, Ill.) followed with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Brandon Perez on court five. On court three, Wiersholm, who was one of two seniors honored in the pre-match Senior Day ceremony, went to a tiebreaker to determine the outcome of his first set against Alex Ribeiro, winning it 7-2, before finishing off Riveiro with a 6-4 win in the third set. Virginia Tech picked up a straight-set victory on court six to put the match at 3-2.
On court one, junior Carl Soderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) won his opening set 6-1 over Jason Kros, and broke Kros to be serving with a 6-5 lead in the second set, but Kros returned the favor, breaking Söderlund to send the second set to a tiebreaker. In the tiebreaker, Söderlund held a 6-5 advantage, but Kros rallied, winning three-straight points to take the tiebreaker, 8-6, and send the match into a third set.
On court four, Goetz, playing in just his second match since being sidelined with an injury since mid-February, was edged in his first set by Carlo Donato, 7-5, before winning his second set by that same score. Goetz was serving up 5-3, winning a deuce point to take his third set, 6-3, and secure the victory for the Cavaliers. The match on court one was on-serve at 4-4 when play was abandoned.
This match was part of the Commonwealth Clash presented by Virginia529, 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. Today’s victory earned UVA a full point in the Commonwealth Clash standings, which Virginia Tech currently leads, 8.5-7.5.
Virginia will next head to Cary, N.C., to compete in the 2019 Atlantic Coast Conference Men’s Tennis Championship. Virginia will be the No. 2 seed in the tournament and will have a bye into the quarterfinals, playing on Friday, April 19 at 11:30 a.m., against either the No. 7, Florida State or No. 10 seed, Duke. The semifinals will be on Saturday at 10 a.m., with the championship match scheduled for 10 a.m., on Sunday, April 21.