No. 6 Virginia Falls to No. 14 Cal 4-3

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 6 Virginia men’s tennis team suffered a 4-3 loss to No. 14 Cal on Friday (March 21) at the Virginia Tennis Facility at the Boar’s Head Resort.

The Cavaliers (11-6, 3-4 ACC) rallied to tie the match at three, but the Golden Bears (12-2, 5-2 ACC) came through in a third set tiebreak on court six to clinch the win.

Cal picked up a 6-3 victory on doubles court three to open the match. Within seconds of each other, sophomore Dylan Dietrich and freshman Rafael Jódar won 6-4 on doubles court two right before Cal clinched the doubles point with a 7-5 victory on the top doubles court.

Dietrich tied the match for the Cavaliers, winning 6-3, 6-3 over No. 37 Theo Dean on court two.

The Golden Bears retook the lead with a straight set win on court three.

Jódar picked up a narrow victory over No. 9 Carl Emil Overbeck, coming through in two tiebreaks on the top court to tie the match.

Cal pulled back in front with a three-set win on court four.

The final two matches came down to third set tiebreakers. On court five, grad student James Hopper rallied from a 5-3 deficit in the match tiebreak against Fryderyk Lechno-Wasiutynski, saving two match points to take the tiebreaker 11-9 and even the match with Cal.

With the match tied at three, the Golden Bears took a narrow match tiebreak on court six, winning 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5) to clinch the victory.

MATCH NOTES

• The Golden Bears ended a five-match losing streak to the Cavaliers
• Rafael Jódar won his 14th straight match, improving to 14-1 on the season
• Jódar improves to 10-0 playing on the top singles court
• Dylan Dietrich won his third-straight match, improving to 9-3 in dual matches
• Jódar and Dietrich stayed perfect as a doubles team, improving to 3-0

UP NEXT

• The Cavaliers will finish the weekend at home, taking on No. 8 Stanford on Sunday (March 23) at 3 p.m.

#14 California 4, #6 Virginia 3
Singles competition

1. #10 Rafael Jodar (VA) def. #9 Carl Emil Overbeck (CAL) 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-3)
2. #21 Dylan Dietrich (VA) def. #37 Theo Dean (CAL) 6-3, 6-3
3. Timofey Stepanov (CAL) def. Keegan Rice (VA) 6-3, 6-3
4. Derrick Chen (CAL) def. Roy Horovitz (VA) 7-5, 1-6, 6-2
5. James Hopper (VA) def. Lechno-Wasiutynski (CAL) 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (11-9)
6. Bernardo Munk Mesa (CAL) def. Mans Dahlberg (VA) 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5)

Doubles competition

1. Carl Emil Overbeck/Alex Chang (CAL) def. #28 James Hopper/Keegan Rice (VA) 7-5
2. #70 Dylan Dietrich/Rafael Jodar (VA) def. Theo Dean/Derrick Chen (CAL) 6-4
3. Mikey Wright/Lechno-Wasiutynski (CAL) def. Mans Dahlberg/Ty Switzer (VA) 6-3

Order of finish: Doubles (3,2,1); Singles (2,3,1,4,5,6)
A-150