Virginia Falls 5-2 at No. 6 Wake Forest
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Virginia men’s tennis team (5-4) suffered a 5-2 loss at No. 6 Wake Forest (6-1) on Sunday (Feb. 9) at the Wake Forest Tennis Center in Winston-Salem, N.C.
The Demon Deacons won the doubles point and then swept through the first four completed singles matches to pick up the victory. Senior Carl Soderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) and sophomore William Woodall (Washington, D.C.) picked up victories over ranked opponents on singles courts one and six, respectively.
Woodall, playing against No. 100 Siddhant Banthia, won his first set, 6-1, but was edged by Banthia, 7-5, in the second set. The third set was knotted 6-6, forcing a tiebreaker that Woodall won 7-4 to give UVA its first point. Söderlund, playing against No. 44 Bar Botzer, lost his first set in a tiebreaker, 7-2, but picked up a late break in the second to win 7-5. The two played a super tiebreaker instead of a full third set to determine the match with Söderlund finally edging Botzer, 14-12, to earn the point.
This is the first of two meetings between the two teams scheduled for this season and is considered a non-conference contest. The ACC match between the Demon Deacons and the Cavaliers will take place on Sunday, March 22 in Charlottesville.
MATCH NOTES
- This was Virginia’s second match this week against a ranked opponent after topping No. 11 TCU 4-1 on Thursday at the Boar’s Head Sports Club
- Three of Wake’s four singles victories were in straight sets. Junior Matthew Lord (Bloomfield, Conn.) won his first set on court five, but dropped his second two
ON THE HORIZON
- Virginia will have a 17-day break before hosting a doubleheader on Thursday, Feb. 27 against George Mason (11 a.m.) and Norfolk State (4:30 p.m.) outdoors at the Snyder Tennis Center