No. 4 Virginia Picks Up a 6-1 Senior Day Victory Against Virginia Tech

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –  The No. 4 Virginia men’s tennis team (16-2, 10-0 ACC) defeated Virginia Tech (9-7, 5-5 ACC) by a 6-1 score on Thursday (April 1) on the indoor courts at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.

Virginia won the doubles point and took five of the six singles courts. Senior Gianni Ross (Chicago, Ill.) clinched the victory for the Cavaliers on his Senior Day.

In doubles, the Cavaliers and Hokies split 6-2 decisions on courts one and three. Junior Ryan Goetz (Greenlawn, N.Y.) and freshman Chris Rodesch (Angelsberg, Luxembourg) clinched the point with a 6-4 victory on court two.

In singles, freshman Iñaki Montes (Pamplona, Spain) gave UVA a 2-0 lead with a 6-1, 6-2 victory on court four. The Hokies won in straight sets on court six to make it 2-1, but grad student Carl Söderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) countered with a 6-3, 6-3 win on the top court to make it 3-1. Ross’ 6-2, 6-4 win against Alvaro Ariza on court six made it 4-1.

Freshman Jeffrey von der Schulenburg (Zurich, Switzerland) won a third-set super-tiebreaker 10-4 to take his court 7-5, 3-6, 1-0. Rodesch finished things off with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 win on court three to make it a 6-1 final score.

MATCH NOTES

• Virginia is alone in first place in the ACC at 10-0
• Virginia has won 10-straight matches
• With their 6-4 win on doubles court three, Iñaki Montes and Jeffrey von der Schulenburg improved to 13-2 in doubles with a perfect 8-0 record in the ACC
• This was the Cavaliers’ final home match of the regular season. Eight student-athletes were honored in a pre-match Senior Day ceremony: Ammar Alhaqbani, Spencer Bozsik, Jefferson Dockter, Matthew Lord, Ethan Moszkowski, Jerome Romualdez, Gianni Ross and Carl Söderlund

FROM HEAD COACH ANDRES PEDROSO

“I thought the team showed up mentally, physically today. I really appreciate how they show up to work every day and they care so much about the program. They’ve been doing that all year. It doesn’t matter who we play, whether we’re playing the best team in the country or the 40th team in the country. Our guys are consistent and they compete consistently and they’ve got good attitudes.

“Our seniors have been invaluable to this program. They were the first class that I got to coach as a head coach. I told them today in our gathering before the match, they were there for my mistakes, they were there with me learning things on the fly, and they were there for each other through the building of this program. I can’t say enough great things about this class.”

ON THE HORIZON

• The Cavaliers have two road matches remaining on the schedule, playing at No. 42 Notre Dame on April 16 and at Louisville on April 18 before heading to Rome, Ga., for the ACC Championships (April 21-25)

#4 Virginia 6, #33 Virginia Tech Hokies 1

Singles competition

1. #6 Carl Soderlund (VA) def. Mitch Harper (VT) 6-3, 6-3
2. #14 J vd Schulenburg (VA) def. #86 Matthis Ross (VT) 7-5, 3-6, 1-0 (4)
3. #118 Chris Rodesch (VA) def. Carlo Donato (VT) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
4. #42 Inaki Montes (VA) def. Hugo Maia (VT) 6-1, 6-2
5. Ryan Fishback (VT) def. #83 Ryan Goetz (VA) 6-2, 6-2
6. Gianni Ross (VA) def. Alvaro Ariza (VT) 6-2, 6-4

Doubles competition

1. #35 Jordan Chrysostom/Ryan Fishback (VT) def. #4 Carl Soderlund/William Woodall (VA) 6-2
2. Ryan Goetz/Chris Rodesch (VA) def. Alex Ribeiro/Mitch Harper (VT) 6-4
3. J vd Schulenburg/Inaki Montes (VA) def. Ryan Kros/Carlo Donato (VT) 6-2

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

T-2:36 A-48