CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Sophomore William Woodall (Washington, D.C) rallied in a second-set tiebreak to clinch a 4-1 victory for the Virginia men’s tennis team (5-3) over No. 11 TCU (3-2) on Thursday (Feb. 6) at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.

After falling behind 4-1 in the second-set tiebreak, Woodall won six consecutive points to win his match and secure the victory over the Horned Frogs. Woodall won 6-4, 7-6 (4) over TCU’s Sander Jong at five singles. 

Virginia clinched the doubles point with wins on courts one and three, respectively. On court one, the duo of Matt Lord (Bloomfield, Conn.) and Carl Soderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) broke serve to tie their match at 4-4. The Cavalier duo then held serve to take a 5-4 lead before breaking the TCU serve once again to clinch their match with a 6-4 victory. On court three, the Virginia tandem of Ryan Goetz (Greenlawn, N.Y.) and Gianni Ross (Chicago, Ill.) broke serve to claim a 7-5 victory and secure the doubles point for the home team.

The Cavaliers then got straight-set victories from Goetz at two singles and Ross at four singles to push the Cavaliers within a point of victory before Woodall would close things out with his win at five singles. Goetz won 6-2, 6-2, while Ross won 7-5, 6-3.

MATCH NOTES

  • The Virginia duo of Alshon and Woodall led 6-5 in the set and were up 40-0 on court two when the doubles point was clinched
  • Senior Carl Soderlund and No. 55 Alistair Gray of TCU had split sets on court one when the match was clinched on court five
  • Freshman Christian Alshon was in a third set with Tomas Jirousek at six singles when the match was clinched
  • The doubles team of Soderlund and Lord remained undefeated in the dual season, improving to 4-0 after the win on court one in the match with TCU
  • With the win, the Cavaliers lead the all-time series with the Horned Frogs 5-1

ON THE HORIZON

  • The Cavaliers play their second ranked opponent of the week, heading to Winston-Salem to take on No. 7 Wake Forest (5-0) on Sunday, Feb. 9 at 1 p.m.
  • This is the first of two meetings between the two teams scheduled for this season. Sunday’s match 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
  • After the Wake Forest match, 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

Virginia 4, No. 11 TCU 1
Singles
1. Carl Soderlund (VA) vs. #55 Alastair Gray (TCU) 4-6, 6-4, unfinished 
2. #81 Ryan Goetz (VA) def. #122 Tadeas Paroulek (TCU) 6-2, 6-2
3. #125 Luc Fomba (TCU) def. Matthew Lord (VA) 6-2, 7-5
4. Gianni Ross (VA) def. Bertus Kruger (TCU) 7-5, 6-3 
5. William Woodall (VA) def. Sander Jong (TCU) 6-4, 7-6 (7-4)
6. Christian Alshon (VA) vs. Tomas Jirousek (TCU) 6-3, 2-6, 0-1, unfinished 
Doubles
1. #35 Matthew Lord/Carl Soderlund (VA) def. Sander Jong/Tadeas Paroulek (TCU) 6-4
2. Christian Alshon/William Woodall (VA) vs. Luc Fomba/Bertus Kruger (TCU) 6-5, unfinished 
3. Ryan Goetz/Gianni Ross (VA) def. Alastair Gray/Tomas Jirousek (TCU) 7-5 

TCU 3-2; National ranking #11
Virginia 5-3
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (2,3,4,5) T-2:23 A-223