No. 5 Virginia Rallies to Take Down No. 1 Texas 4-3
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 5 Virginia men’s tennis team rallied from a 3-1 deficit to top No. 1 Texas 4-3 on Sunday (Feb. 2) at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.
Freshman Stiles Brockett completed the comeback for the Cavaliers (5-1), clinching the win against the top-ranked Longhorns (6-1).
Texas opened the match with wins on the top two doubles courts to win the doubles point and take a 1-0 lead in the match.
Freshman Jangjun Kim responded with a dominant 6-3, 6-3 win on court five to put the Cavaliers on the board and tie the match.
The Longhorns followed with two straight set wins on courts four and three, jumping out to a 3-1 lead.
Sophomore Dylan Dietrich lost his first set on court two but rallied in the second, breaking at 4-4 to force a decider. In the third set, Dietrich saved three crucial break points down 3-4 to stay on serve. At 5-5, he got the break and held on to top No. 2 Sebastian Gorzny 2-6, 6-4, 7-5, cutting the deficit to 3-2.
On the top court, freshman Rafael Jódar fell behind to No. 3 Timo Legout, dropping the first set. In the second set tiebreak, Jódar saved three match points, rallying to win the tiebreaker 9-7 to force a third set. Early in the third, Jódar broke serve and came through in the end, taking down Legout 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-3 to tie the match.
At the same time, freshman Stiles Brockett faced a deficit on court six. Brockett lost his first set 6-4 but won the second set 7-5 to force a decider. Like Jódar, Brockett got the early break in the third and outlasted Lucas Brown, winning 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 to clinch the win for the Hoos.
FROM HEAD COACH ANDRES PEDROSO
“Incredible match to be a part of. Both teams literally left it all out there. Really proud of our guys. I told them that in a college tennis season, you need to come back from losing the doubles point. Why not now? Why not now? That’s what I told them after the doubles point. And they responded. They came out and believed and it didn’t look great at the beginning, and guys just hung in there. And this program has always prided itself in doing that. And that’s what happens when our guys do, the guys that played, the guys that didn’t play, the coaches, the fans. It’s a total team effort by everyone on the team and everyone in the community. What a special environment. Thank you everybody for coming out.”
“That win right there was for Will Thompson and his family.”
MATCH NOTES
- Dylan Dietrich picked up the highest ranked win of his career, topping No. 2 Sebastian Gorzny to record his second top 15 win of the weekend
- Rafael Jódar made his debut on the top court, recording the highest ranked win of his career
- Jódar picked up his third ranked win of the season and second of the weekend
- Stiles Brockett logged the first ranked win of his career, topping No. 116 Lucas Brown 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
- The Cavaliers picked up their ninth straight win over the Longhorns
UP NEXT
- The Cavaliers will be on the road on Friday (Feb. 7), taking on Georgia at 6 p.m.
#5 Virginia 4, #1 Texas 3
Singles competition
- Rafael Jodar (VA) def. #3 Timo Legout (TEX) 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-3
- #57 Dylan Dietrich (VA) def. #2 Sebastian Gorzny (TEX) 2-6, 6-4, 7-5
- Pierre-Yves Bailly (TEX) def. James Hopper (VA) 6-2, 6-4
- #20 Jonah Braswell (TEX) def. #86 Mans Dahlberg (VA) 6-0, 6-4
- Jangjun Kim (VA) def. Sebastian Eriksson (TEX) 6-3, 6-3
- Stiles Brockett (VA) def. #116 Lucas Brown (TEX) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
Doubles competition
- #7 Timo Legout/Lucas Brown (TEX) def. #92 Dylan Dietrich/Mans Dahlberg (VA) 7-5
- Sebastian Gorzny/Pierre-Yves Bailly (TEX) def. James Hopper/Ty Switzer (VA) 6-2
- Jangjun Kim/Rafael Jodar (VA) vs. Sebastian Eriksson/Jonah Braswell (TEX) 5-5, unfinished
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (5,4,3,2,1,6)
T-3:35 A-452