Virginia Advances to NCAA Second Round With 4-0 Win

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 5 Virginia men’s tennis team (22-2) the opened 2021 NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship with a 4-0 victory against Fairleigh Dickinson (6-5) on Saturday (May 8) at the Virginia Tennis Facility at the Boar’s Head Resort.

The Cavaliers will face No. 21 Stanford (11-5) on Sunday (May 9) at 12 p.m. in the second round. Stanford won 4-0 against LSU in the first match of the day at the Charlottesville Regional to advance.

The Cavaliers opened the match with a dominant 6-0 victory on court three by freshmen Jeffrey von der Schulenburg (Zurich, Switzerland) and Iñaki Montes (Pamplona, Spain). Grad student Carl Söderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) and junior William Woodall (Washington, D.C.) clinched the point with a 6-3 win on court one.

In singles, Montes powered through a 6-1, 6-0 victory on court three to make it 2-0. Senior Gianni Ross followed with a 6-1, 6-0 win on court five. Woodall clinched the victory with a 6-0, 6-3 win on court six.

FROM HEAD COACH ANDRES PEDROSO

“Every match is a war at this tournament. Credit to Fairleigh Dickinson for a great match and getting to the NCAA tournament. They had a great season. You can obviously tell why they’re great competitors. They fought ‘til the end and seemed like really good guys. So credit to them and the culture that they’ve built. It’s great to get a win first round and to be able to play outside.”

NOTING THE CAVALIERS

• Virginia has extended its win streak to 16 matches. UVA has not lost a match since being edged 4-3 by Illinois on Valentine’s Day in the final day of the ITA Indoor Championship
• Gianni Ross has the longest active singles win streak on the team, winning his last eight completed matches. He is 12-3 this season
• Iñaki Montes is 12-1 in his last 13 completed singles matches
• In 2019, Virginia topped Stanford 4-2 in the Charlottesville Super Regional to advance to the finals’ site of the USTA National Campus
• Carl Söderlund and Axel Geller, both of who are slated to play No. 1 singles in this year’s tournament, faced off in the 2019 Super Regional on the No. 1 court with Söderlund winning 6-0, 5-7, 6-1

VIRGINIA & THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Virginia has won four NCAA titles, including three-consecutive from 2015-17
• Carl Söderlund was a freshman on UVA’s 2017 NCAA Championship team
• This is Virginia’s 17th-consecutive NCAA Championship appearance and the 16th time hosting a regional
• The Cavaliers have advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals in 14 of the last 15 championships, advanced to the semi-finals in 10 of the past 13 and played in the finals in six of the last nine

FOLLOW ALONG

• Live scoring and live video streams will be available for Sunday’s match

ATTENDANCE POLICY

• Due to health and safety considerations, in addition to the current guidelines for sports venues set by the Commonwealth of Virginia, attendance for the NCAA Championship matches will be limited to guests of participating student-athletes and coaching staffs. Tickets will not be available to the general public

ON THE HORIZON

• The team advancing from the second round of the tournament will head to Orlando, Fla., where the USTA National Campus will be hosting the final four rounds of the tournament. The men’s Round of 16 will take place on Monday, May 17 and the quarterfinals on Thursday, May 20. Men’s and women’s semi-finals will be held on May 21 and both team championships contested on Saturday, May 22.
• The NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships will run from May 23-28

#5 Virginia 4, Fairleigh Dickinson 0

Singles competition

1. #44 J vd Schulenburg (VA) vs. PUKSE, Teodors (FDU-M) 6-1, 4-3, unfinished
2. Chris Rodesch (VA) vs. GUDINS, Andris (FDU-M) 6-2, 2-3, unfinished
3. #61 Inaki Montes (VA) def. AUTUCH, Maciej (FDU-M) 6-1, 6-0
4. #106 Ryan Goetz (VA) vs. SRIRAM, Arjun (FDU-M) 6-3, 0-1, unfinished
5. Gianni Ross (VA) def. BUDINSZKY, Moric (FDU-M) 6-1, 6-0
6. William Woodall (VA) def. SADER, Youssef (FDU-M) 6-0, 6-3

Doubles competition

1. #14 Carl Soderlund/William Woodall (VA) def. PUKSE, Teodors/GUDINS, Andris (FDU-M) 6-3
2. #89 Ryan Goetz/Chris Rodesch (VA) vs. BUDINSZKY, Moric/SRIRAM, Arjun (FDU-M) 5-3, unfinished
3. J vd Schulenburg/Inaki Montes (VA) def. KOYAMA, Taiga/CABRAL, Eduardo (FDU-M) 6-0

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