CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 5 Virginia men’s tennis team suffered a 4-1 defeat to No. 1 Wake Forest on Sunday (March 9) at the Virginia Tennis Facility at the Boar’s Head Resort.
The Cavaliers (9-5, 1-3 ACC) dropped their second straight match, falling to 1-3 in the ACC. Freshman Rafael Jódar recorded the lone point for Virginia.
The top-ranked Demon Deacons (21-0, 4-0 ACC) opened the match with a 6-3 doubles victory on the top court. Junior Ty Switzer and freshman Jangjun Kim responded with a 6-3 win on doubles court three. Jódar and grad student James Hopper saved three match points on doubles court two but fell short in a back-and-forth tiebreak to No. 6 Luciano Tacchi and Luca Pow.
Wake Forest extended its lead to 2-0 with a straight set win on court four.
On the top court, Jódar cut into the deficit, getting Virginia on the board with a 6-2, 6-4 win over No. 5 DK Suresh Ekambaram.
The Demon Deacons followed with two more straight set wins on courts five and six to clinch the victory.
MATCH NOTES
- The Cavaliers dropped back-to-back ACC regular season matches for the first time since 2018
- Sunday’s match was Virginia’s second contest of the season playing the No. 1 team in the ITA Team Rankings. The Cavaliers defeated then-No. 1 Texas at home on February 2
- Rafael Jódar won his eleventh straight match, improving to 11-1 on the season
- Jódar picked up his second victory of the season over a top 5 player in the ITA Singles Rankings
- Freshman Keegan Rice was unavailable for the Cavaliers
UP NEXT
- The Cavaliers are back on the road next weekend, taking on Boston College on Friday (March 14) at 3 p.m. and SMU on Sunday (March 16) at 12 p.m.