No. 5 Virginia Captures ACC Regular-Season Title

LOUISVILLE, Ky. –  The No. 5 Virginia men’s tennis team (18-2, 12-0 ACC) closed out the regular season with a 4-1 win at Louisville (10-10, 3-8 ACC) on Sunday (April 18) at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center in Louisville, Ky.

With the victory, the Cavaliers finish conference play with a 12-0 record, earning the ACC regular-season title for the 14th time in program history and for the first time since 2016. This is the 11th time the team has gone undefeated in the ACC, the first time since 2015.

Freshman Jeffrey von der Schulenburg (Zurich, Switzerland) clinched the victory with a win on the top singles court.

In doubles, the Cavaliers and Cardinals split decisions on court one and three. Junior William Woodall (Washington, D.C.) and senior Matthew Lord (Bloomfield, Conn.) won 7-5 on court two to clinch the point.

In singles, junior Ryan Goetz (Greenlawn, N.Y.) gave UVA a 2-0 lead with a 6-2, 6-3 victory on court four. Freshman Iñaki Montes (Pamplona, Spain) made it 3-0 with a 7-6 (4), 6-1 win against Sergio Hernandez on court three. Louisville picked up a point with a win on court two to make it 3-1.

On court one, von der Schulenburg rallied from a 3-0 deficit in his first set against Tin Chen to win it in a tiebreaker, 7-4. Von der Schulenburg also recovered from suffering an early break in his second set to win 7-5 and clinched the 4-1 victory for the Cavaliers.

FROM HEAD COACH ANDRES PEDROSO

“Today was a total team effort by the guys and credit to the Cards for always giving us everything they had at their place. I’m very proud of Jeffrey von der Schulenburg, who came up with a clutch win at #1 singles. That’s not easy to do as a first-year. Across the board though, the guys did a great job of preparing and competing this weekend. And now it’s time for the best part of the season.”

MATCH NOTES

• Louisville is ranked No. 50 in this week’s ITA computerized team rankings
• Iñaki Montes has the team’s longest active singles win streak at nine matches. He finished his rookie campaign with a perfect 9-0 record in ACC play
• This is the first ACC regular-season title for Andres Pedroso as a head coach
• UVA will be the top seed in the 2021 ACC Men’s Tennis Championship being held at the Rome Tennis Center in Rome, Ga. April 21-25
• UVA begins play in Friday’s quarterfinals with a 2:30 match on Bank 1 against either (8) Georgia Tech or (9) Miami
• Action in the 2021 ACC Men’s Tennis Championship will continue with a pair of 2 p.m. semifinal matches on Saturday and will conclude with Sunday’s 2 p.m. championship match
• The championship match will be broadcast live on ACC Network Extra, with Sam Gore handling play-by-play and Luke Jensen serving as analyst
• Due to COVID protocols, no public tickets will be available for the 2021 ACC Tennis Championships. Admission to each match of the event will be limited to family and guests of team personnel. Each team will be allowed two complimentary pass admissions per travel party member (no more than 26 per team). Those individuals can be in the venue for their team’s match only. The ACC will be using the indoor courts at the Rome Tennis Center (six courts) and also Georgia Tech’s indoor courts (if needed). The ACC will not allow spectators at the Georgia Tech indoor courts, spectators will be allowed in the Rome indoor courts. Spectators will be required to mask.

#5 Virginia 4, #50 Louisville Men’s Tennis 1

Singles competition

1. #24 J vd Schulenburg (VA) def. Tin Chen (LOU-MT) 7-6 (4), 7-5
2. #57 Fabien Salle (LOU-MT) def. Chris Rodesch (VA) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4
3. #49 Inaki Montes (VA) def. #71 Sergio Hernandez (LOU-MT) 7-6 (4), 6-1
4. #96 Ryan Goetz (VA) def. Josh Howard-Tripp (LOU-MT) 6-2, 6-3
5. Matthew Fung (LOU-MT) vs. Gianni Ross (VA) 4-6, 7-6 (6), 1-1, unfinished
6. David Mizrahi (LOU-MT) vs. William Woodall (VA) 7-5, 6-7 (5), unfinished

Doubles competition

1. #63 Matthew Fung/Fabien Salle (LOU-MT) def. J vd Schulenburg/Inaki Montes (VA) 6-2
2. William Woodall/Matthew Lord (VA) def. #89 Tin Chen/Sergio Hernandez (LOU-MT) 7-5
3. Ryan Goetz/Gianni Ross (VA) def. Kyle Tang/Alex Wesbrooks (LOU-MT) 6-0

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

T-2:45 A-75