DALLAS, Texas – The No. 8 Virginia men’s tennis team picked up a 4-1 road win at SMU to finish the weekend on Sunday (March 16) at the Styslinger / Altec Tennis Complex.
For the second straight match, the Cavaliers (11-5, 3-3 ACC) lost the doubles point but rallied to win four singles matches to take down the Mustangs (12-11, 1-5 ACC).
SMU started out the match with a victory on doubles court two. Sophomore Dylan Dietrich and freshman Rafael Jódar cruised to a 6-3 win on the top doubles court, but the Mustangs followed with a 6-4 win on doubles court three to clinch the doubles point and take an early 1-0 lead.
Virginia turned things around in singles, winning all six first sets against SMU to take control of the match.
Jódar picked up a straight set win on the top court against No. 94 Trevor Svajda to even the match.
Junior Mans Dahlberg posted a 6-4, 6-4 win over Maks Silagy on court six to put UVA up 2-1 over the Mustangs.
Freshman Roy Horovitz got broken while serving for the match in the second set on court five but broke back in the following game at 5-5, holding on to win 6-2, 7-5.
Dietrich split sets on court two with Jerry Barton but ran away with his match in the decider, winning 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to clinch the win for the Hoos.
MATCH NOTES
- Rafael Jódar picked up his 13th straight win, improving to 13-1 on the season
- The Cavaliers won their fifth match of the season after losing the doubles point
- Roy Horovitz improves to 3-1 this year
- Dylan Dietrich and Jódar won their second straight match together playing on the top doubles court
- The Cavaliers won just their second meeting with the Mustangs. SMU won the lone previous match in 1999
UP NEXT
- The Cavaliers return home next weekend, taking on Cal on Friday (March 21) at 6 p.m. and No. 9 Stanford on Sunday (March 23) at 3 p.m.