No. 12 Virginia Downs No. 9 UNC, 4-0

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –  The No.12 Virginia men’s tennis team (13-4, 5-0 ACC) opened the weekend with a 4-0 victory against No. 9 North Carolina (11-5, 3-1 ACC) on Friday (March 17) at the Boar’s Head Sports Club indoor courts.

Virginia won the doubles point and picked up singles victories on courts one, four and six to remain perfect in conference play. Chris Rodesch picked up the clinching point on court one.

“This was a solid win for our team today against an always very good North Carolina team,” said head coach Andres Pedroso. “We will surely be seeing them down the road in the ACC Tournament. I’m especially proud of our first year, Mans Dahlberg, for fighting back from four match points down in the second set to get himself back in the match. Those are the types of mental efforts it’s going to take for this team to maximize and I’m confident we will in time. Thank you to the Wahoo fans for coming out to the Boar’s Head today to cheer us on. It’s always an honor to play in front of them.”

Rodesch and William Woodall opened the match with a dominant 6-0 victory on doubles court two. UNC evened it up with a 6-3 win on court three. Iñaki Montes and Ryan Goetz clinched the point by edging Ryan Seggerman and Casey Kania 7-5 in a tiebreaker on the top court.

In singles, Jeffrey von der Schulenburg downed Benjamin Kittay 6-2, 7-5 on court four. Alexander Kiefer kept his hot streak alive, picking up his fifth-straight single victory as he topped Henry Lieberman 6-2, 6-2 on court six to make it 3-0. Rodesch bounced back from dropping a tiebreaker 7-4 in his first set against Seggerman to take the second 6-2 and then won the decider 6-4 to clinch the match.

Both Goetz and Montes were up 6-5 in their second sets when play was abandoned. Måns Dahlberg was up 3-1 in his third set.

MATCH NOTES

• Virginia has won 31 straight matches in ACC play and 38 straight matches against ACC opponents
• Virginia and North Carolina have faced one another in each of the last two ACC Championship finals

ON THE HORIZON

• Virginia closes out the weekend by hosting No. 13 Duke (11-4, 4-0 ACC) on Sunday, March 19 at 2:30 p.m.

#12 Virginia 4, #9 North Carolina 0
Singles competition

1. #27 Chris Rodesch (VA) def. #22 Ryan Seggerman (NC) 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-4
2. #37 Inaki Montes (VA) vs. #93 Karl Poling (NC) 7-5, 6-5, unfinished
3. #111 Ryan Goetz (VA) vs. Anuj Watane (NC) 6-2, 6-5, unfinished
4. #32 J vd Schulenburg (VA) def. Benjamin Kittay (NC) 6-2, 7-5
5. Mans Dahlberg (VA) vs. Logan Zapp (NC) 4-6, 7-5, 3-1, unfinished
6. Alexander Kiefer (VA) def. Henry Lieberman (NC) 6-2, 6-2

Doubles competition

1. Inaki Montes/Ryan Goetz (VA) def. #32 Ryan Seggerman/Casey Kania (NC) 7-6 (7-5)
2. Chris Rodesch/William Woodall (VA) def. Karl Poling/Will Jansen (NC) 6-0
3. Benjamin Kittay/Logan Zapp (NC) def. Alexander Kiefer/J vd Schulenburg (VA) 6-3

Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (4,6,1)
A-139 T:2:57