No. 10 Virginia Opens 2020 Dual Season with a Wednesday Doubleheader

Live Stats | Furman Streaming | Washington and Lee Streaming

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –  The No. 10 Virginia men’s tennis team opens up the 2020 dual match season by playing two matches on Wednesday, January 15 at the Boar’s Head Sports Club. The team will face Furman (0-1) at 12 p.m. and Washington and Lee (1-0) at 6 p.m.
 

• Live stats and live streaming video will be available through VirginiaSports.com
• Admission is free for all Virginia home tennis matches

 
Noting the Cavaliers

• The Cavaliers begin the season ranked No. 10 in the Oracle/ITA Division I Men’s Tennis Team Preseason Rankings. The Cavaliers finished the 2019 campaign ranked No. 5
• Virginia advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2019 NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship, finishing with a 24-5 overall record and a 10-2 mark in conference play. The squad was a perfect 13-0 on its home courts
• Senior Carl Soderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) was the No. 1 singles player in the fall preseason rankings, the seventh player in program history to be the top-ranked singles player in the country during their career. Söderlund did not play collegiate matches in the fall and is not ranked in the latest ITA singles poll
• Soderlund is the reigning ACC Player of the Year and was an ITA Singles All-American last season, posting a 20-5 record in singles
• Junior Gianni Ross (Chicago, Ill.) is the Cavaliers’ top-ranked singles player at No. 68. Ross went 9-2 in singles in the fall, advancing to the semifinals of the ITA Atlantic Regional. Ross had a team-best 21 singles victories last season, including 14 wins in dual matches
• Sophomore Ryan Goetz (Greenlawn, N.Y.) is currently ranked No. 115 in singles. Goetz was the ITA Atlantic Region singles champion in the fall, the 10^th player in program history to win that title. He was the runner-up at the regional his freshman year
• Goetz and senior Ammar Alhaqbani (Alexandria, Va.) both finished the fall with 11 singles victories, with the latter posting an 11-2 record
• Goetz and Alhaqbani are ranked No. 34 in the current ITA doubles rankings, going 3-1 as a tandem in the fall
• Ross and sophomore William Woodall (Washington, D.C.) are ranked No. 53 in doubles. The duo went 7-0 last season

 
Scouting Furman & Washington and Lee

• The Paladins opened the season on last Saturday at No. 1 Florida, falling 6-1
• Clarke Wilson defeated 70th-ranked Lukas Greif, 7-6(7-0), 6-2, at flight three singles to put Furman on the board in the match-up
• Doubles team Jake Munns and Jake Bhangdia are ranked No. 10 in the ITA Doubles rankings
• Furman finished the 2019 season with a 17-5 record and a 6-1 mark in the Southern Conference
• Wednesday’s match marks the 28th meeting between the two schools.  The teams last met in 2016, when the Cavaliers defeated the Paladins, 7-0, to take a 23-4 series advantage
• Washington and Lee played its first dual match in the fall, topping Emory & Henry 9-0
• The Generals were 15-8 last season, earning a spot in the field of the NCAA III Championship before falling to Emery in the first round
• Sophomore Bobby Neuner was an Old Dominion Athletic Conference first team honoree last year at No. 3 singles, posting a 22-2 singles record

 
On the Horizon

• Virginia will open conference play on Saturday, playing at Louisville on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 12 p.m.
• The Cavaliers are back at the Boar’s Head next Saturday and Sunday (Jan. 25-26), hosting ITA Kickoff Weekend matches when Memphis, NC State, Utah State and Virginia will be vying for an invitation to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. Matches are at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. both days