No. 8 Virginia Downs No. 3 Wake Forest 4-3

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.  – The No. 8 Virginia men’s tennis team (9-4, 1-0 ACC) opened ACC play with a 4-3 win against No. 3 Wake Forest (10-4, 0-1 ACC) on Friday (March 1) at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.

Wake Forest took the doubles point and held a 2-0 lead in the match, but the Cavaliers won three straight singles courts to take a 3-2 lead. The Demon Deacons tied it up 3-3 before freshman Dylan Dietrich clinched the victory for the Cavaliers.

The match started on the outdoor courts, but was moved indoors late in the first singles sets after a thirty minute rain delay.

Virginia opened doubles strong, with seniors Chris Rodesch and Jeffrey von der Schulenburg winning 6-1 on court two. The other two matches were tight. On court three, Wake Forest picked up a late break to win 7-5 and even the point. On court one, grad students James Hopper and Edoardo Graziani jumped out to a 4-0 lead, but the No. 3 ranked team of DK Surech and Holden Koons stormed back and tied it up 4-4. The match remained knotted at 6-6, forcing a tiebreaker that the Demon Deacons 7-4 to take the point.

In singles, Luca Pow spotted Wake Forest to a 2-0 lead with a 6-0, 6-3 win at five. Sophomore Måns Dahlberg began the comeback for the Cavaliers, winning 6-4, 6-4 on six to make it 2-1.

Three of the other four remaining singles courts went to three sets, and all four courts had at least one set decided by a tiebreaker.

Rodesch had the biggest turnaround. He dropped his first set 6-1 against Suresh on the outdoor courts, but indoors, he took his second set to a tiebreaker, winning it 8-6 to force a third set. He won the decider 6-4 to tie the match 2-2.

Senior Iñaki Montes, playing at No. 2, won a tiebreaker 7-4 to win his first set and then took his second 6-4 against No. 25 Filippo Moroni to give UVA a 3-2 lead.

Wake Forest took a tight match on court four 6-4, 6-7 (4), 7-5 to make it 3-3.

Dietrich and Matthew Thomson were tied 4-4 when court four finished. The two players had traded breaks throughout their final set and did so again, with Dietrich going down a break and then breaking back to make it 5-5. Dietrich held serve and then broke Thomson to secure the victory for the Cavaliers.

FROM HEAD COACH ANDRES PEDROSO

“Just a great college tennis match. Both teams fought to the end. Incredible effort by Wake. I have so much respect for that program. They’re one of the best teams in the country. They fought us to the end. I’m just really proud of our guys.”

MATCH NOTES

• This was the sixth match for UVA this season against a team ranked in the top five of the ITA rankings
• Virginia has won 51 straight matches against ACC opponents (including conference matches, out-of-conference dual matches and tournament play). UVA’s last loss against an ACC foe was a 4-2 loss to UNC at ITA Indoors on Feb. 13, 2021
• Virginia’s last ACC loss was on March 17, 2019, against Wake Forest

UP NEXT

• The Cavaliers close out the weekend by hosting No. 17 NC State on Sunday, March 3 at 1 p.m.

#8 Virginia 4, #3 Wake Forest 3
Singles competition

1. #10 Chris Rodesch (VA) def. #53 DK Suresh Ekambaram (WFU) 1-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4
2. #55 Inaki Montes (VA) def. #25 Filippo Moroni (WFU) 7-6 (4), 6-4
3. #50 Dylan Dietrich (VA) def. Matthew Thomson (WFU) 7-6 (1), 2-6, 7-5
4. #117 Luciano Tacchi (WFU) def. #45 J vd Schulenburg (VA) 6-4, 6-7 (5), 7-5
5. Luca Pow (WFU) def. Alexander Kiefer (VA) 6-0, 6-3
6. Mans Dahlberg (VA) def. Holden Koons (WFU) 6-4, 6-4

Doubles competition

1. #3 DK Suresh Ekambaram/Holden Koons (WFU) def. Edoardo Graziani/James Hopper (VA) 7-6 (7-4)
2. #48 J vd Schulenburg/Chris Rodesch (VA) def. Matthew Thomson/Filippo Moroni (WFU) 6-1
3. Luciano Tacchi/Luca Pow (WFU) def. Inaki Montes/Dylan Dietrich (VA) 7-5

Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (5,6,1,2,4,3)
A-180 T-4:11