Virginia Blanks NC State to Advance to ACC Final
ROME, Ga. – Top-seeded Virginia (20-2) picked up a 4-0 victory against 4-seed NC State (11-8) in the semifinals of the 2021 ACC Men’s Tennis Championship on Saturday (Apr. 24) at the Rome Tennis Center in Rome, Ga.
Virginia will play 2-seed Wake Forest (29-5) or 3-seed North Carolina (18-2) for the ACC Championship title on Sunday (Apr. 25) at 2 pm. The match will stream on ACCNX.
Virginia shook off Friday’s close quarterfinal match against Georgia Tech to dominate the semifinal showdown against the Wolfpack. The Cavaliers took the doubles point and won three singles matches with dominant second sets to advance to Sunday’s championship match.
Freshman Iñaki Montes (Pamplona, Spain) clinched the victory with a win on singles court three.
Senior Carl Söderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) and junior William Woodall (Washington, D.C.) set the tone early, picking up a 6-1 victory on the top doubles court. Junior Ryan Goetz (Greenlawn, N.Y.) and freshman Chris Rodesch (Angelsberg, Luxembourg) clinched the point with a 6-4 win on court two.
In singles, Goetz cruised to a 6-1, 6-0 win against Rafa Izqueirdo Luque on court four to give UVA a 2-0 lead. Woodall followed with a 6-3, 6-1 win on court six.
Montes and Söderlund were in a race to clinch with both leading 5-0 in their second sets. Montes finished his, taking down Robin Catry 6-4, 6-0. Söderlund abandoned his match against No. 22 Alexis Galarneu while leading 6-4, 5-0.
MATCH NOTES
- Virginia is ranked No. 6 in this week’s ITA team rankings. NC State is No. 25
- Virginia extends its win streak to 14 matches
- The Cavaliers have won 12 ACC Championships (2004-05, 2007-15, 2017)
- This is the second time the tournament has been held at the Rome Tennis Center. The last time it was held there was 2017, when UVA won its last title. Carl Söderlund was a member of that championship team
- Andres Pedroso is looking for his first ACC championship as a head coach
- Pedroso originally served as Virginia’s associate head coach from 2010-14. During that four-year span, the Cavaliers won four ACC championships, the program’s first NCAA championship (2013) and two ITA National Team Indoor titles (2011 and 2013). As a player at Duke, Pedroso helped lead the Blue Devils to four ACC titles (1998-01)
FROM HEAD COACH ANDRES PEDROSO
“Credit to the Wolfpack on always being one of the toughest outs in the ACC. The Wahoos learned some important lessons yesterday and you could tell today on the court. We are really looking forward to tomorrow and we know it will be a great challenge. This is what it’s all about and a big reason why our student-athletes chose the University of Virginia!”
FOLLOW ALONG
- Sunday’s ACC Championship final will stream online through ACCNX, via the ESPN app, available through participating TV providers that carry ACCN
- Live scores will also be available
#6 Virginia 4, #25 NC State 0
Singles competition
- #9 Carl Soderlund (VA) vs. #22 Alexis Galarneau (ST) 6-4, 5-0, unfinished
- #44 J vd Schulenburg (VA) vs. Tadas Babelis (ST) 6-1, 1-6, 2-1, unfinished
- #55 Inaki Montes (VA) def. Robin Catry (ST) 6-4, 6-0
- #99 Ryan Goetz (VA) def. #79 Rafa Izquierdo Luque (ST) 6-1, 6-0
- Gianni Ross (VA) vs. Robert Turzak (ST) 6-4, 3-4, unfinished
- William Woodall (VA) def. Yannai Barkai (ST) 6-3, 6-1
Doubles competition
- #10 Carl Soderlund/William Woodall (VA) def. #31 Tadas Babelis/Yannai Barkai (ST) 6-1
- Ryan Goetz/Chris Rodesch (VA) def. Robin Catry/Alexis Galarneau (ST) 6-4
- J vd Schulenburg/Inaki Montes (VA) vs. Robert Turzak/Collin Shick (ST) 5-5, unfinished
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (4,6,3)
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