Virginia Tops Georgia Tech 4-3 in ACC Quarterfinals
ROME, Ga. – The Virginia men’s tennis team (19-2, 12-0 ACC) advanced to the semifinals of the 2021 ACC Men’s Tennis Championship with a 4-3 victory against 8-seed Georgia Tech (13-9) on Friday (Apr. 23) at the Rome Tennis Center in Rome, Ga.
Freshman Jeffrey von der Schulenburg (Zurich, Switzerland) rallied from a 3-0 deficit in his third set to win a tiebreaker 7-5 to clinch the victory.
Top-seeded Virginia will face 4-seed NC State on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the semifinals.
The tightness of the match started in doubles. The Cavaliers and Yellow Jackets split decisions on courts two and three, leaving the point to be decided on court one. Senior Carl Söderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) and junior William Woodall (Washington, D.C.) battled to a 6-6 tie before being edged 7-4 in a tiebreaker, giving the point to Georgia Tech.
In singles, senior Gianni Ross (Chicago, Ill.) knotted the score at one apiece after picking up a decisive 6-2, 6-1 victory on court five against Brandon McKinney. Söderlund gave UVA a 2-1 lead with a 6-4, 6-0 win against No. 20 Marcus McDaniel on court one. Georgia Tech picked up points with straight-set victories on courts six and three to take a 3-2 lead. Junior Ryan Goetz (Greenlawn, N.Y.) tied things up with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Keshav Chopra on court four.
On court two, von der Schulenburg had won his first set 6-4 against Andres Martin, but Martin took the second 6-3 and then edged out to a 3-0 lead in the third set. Martin was serving for the match with a 5-4 lead when von der Schulenburg broke his serve to draw even. After two more holds, it went to the tiebreaker which von der Schulenburg won 7-5.
FROM HEAD COACH ANDRES PEDROSO
“The Yellow Jackets took it to us today and nearly got us. Huge respect for their coaches and their players. They clearly had a game plan against us and they executed it so, so well. Like I have said before, our team fights until the end and today, Jeffrey von der Schulenburg showed the type of competitor that he truly is. Incredible come from behind win for the Wahoos and we live to fight another day.”
MATCH NOTES
- Virginia is ranked No. 6 in this week’s ITA team rankings. Georgia Tech is No. 31
- Virginia extends its win streak to 13 matches
- Virginia won the regular-season meeting against NC State 5-2 on Feb. 26
FOLLOW ALONG
- Live scoring will be available for all matches
- There will not be court streams available for the matches
- Sunday’s ACC Championship final will stream online through ACCNX, via the ESPN app, available through participating TV providers that carry ACCN
#6 Virginia 4, #31 Georgia Tech 3
Singles competition
- #9 Carl Soderlund (VA) def. #20 Marcus McDaniel (M-GT) 6-4, 6-0
- #44 J vd Schulenburg (VA) def. #38 Andres Martin (M-GT) 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5)
- Pablo Schelcher (M-GT) def. Inaki Montes (VA) 6-3, 7-5
- Ryan Goetz (VA) def. Keshav Chopra (M-GT) 7-5, 6-4
- Gianni Ross (VA) def. Brandon McKinney (M-GT) 6-2, 6-1
- Chen Dong (M-GT) def. William Woodall (VA) 6-4, 6-4
Doubles competition
- 1. #50 Marcus McDaniel/Andres Martin (M-GT) def. #10 Carl Soderlund/William Woodall (VA) 7-6 (7-4)
- 2. J vd Schulenburg/Inaki Montes (VA) def. Brandon Freestone/Pablo Schelcher (M-GT) 6-4
- 3. Chen Dong/Keshav Chopra (M-GT) def. Ryan Goetz/Gianni Ross (VA) 6-2
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (5,1,6,3,4,2)
T-3:20