No. 7 Virginia Edged 4-3 by Illinois

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. –  The No. 7 Virginia men’s tennis team (6-2) fell 4-3 to Illinois (3-1) in a consolation match at the 46th annual ITA Division I National Men’s Team Indoor Championship Presented by Oracle on Sunday (Feb. 14) at the Atkins Tennis Center in Champaign, Ill.

Virginia won the doubles point and took the first two singles matches before the Illini won the final four courts.

Grad student Carl Söderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) and junior William Woodall (Washington, D.C.) cruised to a 6-1 win on the top doubles court. The freshman duo of Iñaki Montes (Pamplona, Spain) and Jeffrey von der Schulenburg (Zurich, Switzerland) secured the point with a 6-2 win on court three.

In singles, freshman Chris Rodesch (Angelsberg, Luxembourg) extended the Cavalier lead with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Lucas Horve on court five. Söderlund won a three-set showdown with No. 15 Alex Brown to give UVA a 3-0 lead.

The Cavaliers and Illini battled in close matches on the other four courts. Both von der Schulenburg and senior Gianni Ross (Chicago, Ill.) were edged in tiebreakers to decide their first sets. Junior Ryan Goetz (Greenlawn, N.Y.) was edged 7-5 in his first set and then fell in a tiebreaker in his second set. Montes lost a deuce point for match point in his 7-5 third set against Siphosothando Montsi on court two.

FROM ANDRES PEDROSO

“All the credit to Illinois. They played a great match. Our guys, as always, fought to the bitter end. This team has a lot of heart and we never give up. It’s an honor to coach this team.”

MATCH NOTES

• Söderlund improved to 4-0 in singles with his win today
• Illinois is the only unranked team in the tournament field. The Illini knocked off No. 1 USC in their ITA Indoors opener
• Virginia is ranked No. 7 in the latest ITA team rankings but is the No. 6 seed in the eight-team championship
• This year’s ITA Indoors’ field has been halved from the usual 16 teams to just eight, and the four-day tournament shortened to three days

Illinois 4, #7 Virginia 3

Singles competition

1. #29 Carl Soderlund (VA) def. #15 Alex Brown (ILL) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
2. #82 Siphosothando Montsi (ILL) def. Inaki Montes (VA) 3-6, 6-4, 7-5
3. #112 Zeke Clark (ILL) def. #106 J vd Schulenburg (VA) 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-3
4. Hunter Heck (ILL) def. Ryan Goetz (VA) 7-5, 7-6 (5)
5. Chris Rodesch (VA) def. Lucas Horve (ILL) 7-5, 6-3
6. Alex Bancila (ILL) def. Gianni Ross (VA) 7-6 (5), 6-1

Doubles competition

1. Carl Soderlund/William Woodall (VA) def. Siphosothando Montsi/Lucas Horve (ILL) 6-1
2. Alex Brown/Hunter Heck (ILL) vs. Ryan Goetz/Chris Rodesch (VA) 4-5, unfinished
3. Inaki Montes/J vd Schulenburg (VA) def. Lucas Horve/Vuk Budic (ILL) 6-2

Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (5,1,6,4,2,3)

ITA Indoors Consolation Match

T-3:00