CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –  The No. 22 Virginia men’s tennis team (1-0) travels to Columbus, Ohio to compete in ITA Kickoff Weekend matches on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 22-23.

ITA KICKOFF WEEKEND SCHEDULE

Friday

  • 11 a.m. | 1-seed Ohio State vs. 4-seed Middle Tennessee State
  • 2 p.m. |  2-seed Iowa vs. 3-seed Virginia

Saturday

  • 3:30 p.m. | Championship Match
  • 6:30 p.m. | Consolation Match

NOTING THE CAVALIERS

  • Virginia opened the season with a 7-0 sweep of Liberty. UVA won the doubles point and took a 6-0 lead with straight-set victories on five singles courts. Freshman Iñaki Montes de la Torre (Pamplona, Spain) finished the sweep by winning a tiebreaker in his third set on court four
  • Three freshmen made their collegiate debuts in the Liberty match. In addition to Montes, Jeffrey von der Schulenburg (Zurich, Switzerland) and Chris Rodesch (Angelsburg, Luxembourg) also picked up singles victories, with von der Schulenburg playing on court two and Rodesch on court five
  • Grad student Carl Söderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) begins his fifth-year campaign ranked No. 29 in singles. He opened the season with a 6-3, 6-3 win on court one
  • Virginia is ranked No. 22 in the preseason ITA team rankings. Ohio State is No. 3
  • Iowa is currently unranked, but was No. 23 at the time of the ITA Kickoff Weekend draft, earning it the No. 2 seed. Ohio State was No. 5 at the time of the draft. UVA was No. 33
  • Virginia was originally the No. 4 seed in Columbus, but No. 3 seed Texas Tech dropped out. Middle Tennessee was added to the four-team pod, bumping UVA up to the No. 3 seed and changing the first-round opponent to Iowa instead of Ohio State

ITA KICKOFF WEEKEND

  • This is the 13th year that ITA Kickoff Weekend matches have been used to determine the field for the ITA Division I National Men’s Team Indoor Championship
  • Each of the regional host institutions (seven for the men, seven for the women) welcome three other teams for a single-elimination event, with the winners advancing to the National Team Indoors. Illinois will host the Men’s National Team Indoor Championship on Feb. 12-14 at the Atkins Tennis Center
  • ITA Kickoff Weekend is unique in college athletics in that each regional competition is determined via the Kickoff Weekend Draft, where each team selects which regional they wish to participate in. Selections are made in order of the previous year’s final Collegiate Tennis Rankings
  • The ITA Division I National Men’s Team Indoor Championship, presented by Oracle, is in its 47th year of existence. This year’s field has been halved from the usual 16 teams to just eight, seven qualifiers from ITA Kickoff Weekend tournaments and the host institution, Illinois
  • The Cavaliers have won six ITA National Team Indoor Championships, including four-straight from 2008 to 2011 and most recently in 2017 when the tournament was held in Charlottesville
  • Virginia has only failed to advance out of ITA Kickoff Weekend twice in the previous 12 years of the tournament
  • The Virginia women’s tennis team is also playing in ITA Kickoff Weekend matches in Columbus, competing on Saturday and Sunday

ON THE HORIZON

  • The Cavaliers return home to host Old Dominion on Saturday, January 28 at 11 a.m. indoors at the Boar’s Head Sports Club
  • Virginia’s home match against Wake Forest that was scheduled to be played on Thursday, Feb. 4 has been moved to Saturday, Feb. 6 at 3 p.m. This is a non-conference meeting between the two ACC opponents