No. 5 Virginia Faces No. 4 Kentucky in the NCAA Quarterfinals

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –  The Virginia men’s tennis team (27-4) takes on Kentucky (27-4) in the quarterfinals of the 2023 NCAA Men’s Tennis Team Championship on Thursday, May 18 at 5 p.m. at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida.

MATCH INFORMATION

• Thursday’s match will be covered by the Cracked Racquets Cross Court Cast on their YouTube Channel
• Friday’s semifinals and Saturday’s championship match will be aired on the Tennis Channel
• Individual court streams will also be available on the USTA National Campus website
• Live scoring will be available for all of the matches via Statbroadcast

NOTING THE CAVALIERS

• Virginia brings a 19-match win streak into the tournament. The Cavaliers’ last loss was on the third day of ITA Indoors on Feb. 19 against Ohio State
• Virginia has not lost an outdoor match this season
• Chris Rodesch has won his last 11 completed singles matches. The MVP of the ACC Championship is 25-6 in singles this season with a 16-1 record on the No. 1 court. He has four victories this year against players ranked in the top five of the singles rankings
• Rodesch earned a 9-16 seed in the NCAA Singles championship, his first time being seeded in the tournament and his second time earning a spot in the field. He is No. 9 in the updated singles rankings
• Iñaki Montes earned invitations to compete in both the doubles and singles championships. Montes and Ryan Goetz earned a 5-8 seed in the doubles tournament and are No. 8 in this week’s rankings
• Montes is ranked No. 26 in the ITA singles rankings
• Goetz won the clinching points for the Cavaliers in both the ACC semifinal and championship matches. Goetz is 17-2 at No. 4 singles this season
• Goetz has 20 wins in singles and doubles, going 21-7 in the latter including a 17-6 record in dual matches
• Jeffrey von der Schulenburg is 14-1 in his last 15 singles matches (all completed). He is 29-7 overall in singles with a 19-3 record at No. 3
• von der Schulenburg earned his third invitation to compete in the NCAA Singles Championship. He is the only current player to play in three straight NCAA individual championships. He is No. 49 in the latest ITA singles rankings
• Alex Kiefer went 10-0 in singles in conference play. He won both of his matches in the first and second rounds of the NCAA Championship
• Måns Dahlberg won the clinching point in the Round of 16 victory against Duke. Dahlberg joined the team in January and is 14-5 in his rookie season
• The Cavaliers have a combined record of 113-26 in singles in dual matches this spring for an .813 win percentage

VIRGINIA & NCAA TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

• The reigning NCAA Champions are looking for their sixth NCAA title in 11 years
• This is Virginia’s 19th-consecutive NCAA Championship appearance
• This is the 16^th time in the last 18 tournaments that the Cavaliers have made the quarterfinals
• Virginia has advanced to the semifinals in 11 of the past 15 tournaments and has played in seven of the last 11 finals
• Virginia is the five seed in this year’s championship. The Cavaliers were the seven seed last year when they won the title
• Virginia and Texas are the only two teams this year to advance to the quarterfinals with three 4-0 victories
• After starting the 2022 season 5-5, Virginia won 23 straight matches last season en route to claiming the NCAA title

SCOUTING KENTUCKY

• This quarterfinal contest is a rematch of last year’s NCAA Championship final that Virginia won 4-0
• The only match-up that will be the same is at No. 1 singles with Liam Draxl vs. Chris Rodesch. In last year’s final, the two split sets 6-2, 5-7
• Virginia and Kentucky faced one another earlier this season with the No. 5 Wildcats edging then No. 1 Virginia 4-3 in Charlottesville on Feb. 3
• Neither Draxl or Rodesch played in that match (Rodesch was in Luxembourg playing a Davis Cup tie)
• Three of the singles match-ups will be the same as the first meeting (courts 2-4)
• Virginia is 10-7 all-time against the Wildcats and has won three of the last four meetings

ON THE HORIZON

• The winner of this quarterfinal match will take on the winner of No. 1 Texas vs. No. 9 South Carolina on Friday, May 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the NCAA Semifinals
• 2 TCU, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 6 Georgia and No. 7 Michigan are on the other side of the bracket
• The NCAA Championship match will take place on Saturday, May 20 at 7:30 p.m.