No. 5 Virginia Opens Season Thursday at No. 15 South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. –  The No. 5 Virginia men’s tennis team opens the 2025 dual match season on the road Thursday (Jan. 16) at No. 15 South Carolina at 5 p.m. at the Carolina Indoor Tennis Center in Columbia, S.C. The Cavaliers will also play Old Dominion on Sunday (Jan. 19) at 3 p.m. at the Country Club of Virginia in Richmond, Va.

FAN INFORMATION

• Live streaming and live scoring will be available for Thursday’s match
• No live streaming or live scoring will be available on Sunday

VIRGINIA NOTES

• The Cavaliers begin the spring season ranked No. 5 in the ITA Team Rankings
• UVA lost five seniors from last year’s team, including Chris Rodesch, Iñaki Montes de la Torre, Jeffrey von der Schulenburg, and Alexander Kiefer. The Cavaliers posted a 25-6 record last season, finishing as ACC regular season champions and reaching the NCAA Quarterfinals
• The Cavaliers have currently won 50 ACC regular season matches in a row. Their last regular season loss in ACC play came on January 18, 2020 against Louisville
• Dylan Dietrich highlights the returners this season. The sophomore posted a 23-7 singles record last season, earning him ACC Freshman of the Year, All-ACC Second Team honors, and Singles All-American honors. This fall, Dietrich recorded a 6-3 record, earning a spot in the NCAA Singles Championship with a runner-up finish at the ITA Atlantic Regional. He comes into the spring ranked No. 57 in singles
• Junior Mans Dahlberg also returns for the Cavaliers. Dahlberg compiled an 18-10 record last year in singles, going 8-1 in ACC play. In the fall, he finished with a 7-4 singles record, advancing to the singles quarterfinals and doubles semifinals of the ITA Atlantic Regional. He enters the spring ranked No. 86 in singles. In doubles, Dahlberg and Dietrich begin the spring ranked No. 92
• Graduate student James Hopper returns as well for the Cavaliers. Last season, Hopper was an ITA Doubles All-American, finishing with a 22-15 doubles record. He was named to the All-ACC Doubles Third Team
• The Cavaliers added five freshmen to the roster: Stiles Brockett, Roy Horovitz, Rafael Jódar, Jangjun Kim, and Keegan Rice
• Brockett, a Virginia native from Fairfax, was a five-star recruit ranked No. 1 in the state of Virginia and No. 2 in the Mid-Atlantic region. He picked up seven singles victories in the fall
• Jódar took home the 2024 US Open Boys’ singles title, winning the final in a third set tiebreak against the top seed Nicolar Budkov Kjær
• Rice led the Cavaliers in the fall with an 8-2 record

NOTES ON SOUTH CAROLINA

• Virginia is 15-11 all-time against South Carolina
• The two teams met twice last season, with South Carolina winning 4-3 in the regular season (1/21/24). Virginia won the rematch 4-1 in the NCAA Super Regional – Round of 16 (5/10/24)

NOTES ON OLD DOMINION

• Virginia is 27-2 all-time against Old Dominion, winning the last 10 matches against the Monarchs

 ON THE HORIZON

• The Cavaliers will be hosting ITA Kickoff Weekend matches on Saturday and Sunday, Jan. 25-26
• Boise State, VCU, and No. 19 Alabama will play in the Charlottesville Regional with one spot in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships on the line
• Virginia hosts Boise State on Saturday (Jan. 25) at 12 p.m., with the Rams and Crimson Tide playing at 9 a.m.
• The two winners will play on Sunday (Jan. 26) at 1 p.m. The consolation will be played at 10 a.m.