Hoos in Seventh Heaven After Latest NCAA Title

By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — At the University of Virginia, the race is on for No. 8.

In all, teams representing UVA Athletics have captured 37 NCAA titles. Three of those programs—men’s lacrosse, men’s tennis and men’s soccer—have won seven championships apiece. (Women’s swimming has won six NCAA titles.)

With the 2026-27 school year will come an opportunity for each of those programs to secure an eighth crown. Don’t bet against men’s tennis, which is expected to return most of its lineup next season.

“We are 100% going to go for it next year,” Stiles Brockett said Tuesday afternoon at the Boar’s Head Resort's Virginia Tennis Facility.

Brockett, a sophomore, was one of the starters on the fourth-seeded UVA team that rallied to defeat second-seeded Texas for the NCAA championship Sunday in Athens, Ga.

At the Cavaliers’ celebratory dinner Sunday night, the team’s strength and conditioning coach, Igdalias Mendez, looked to the future, Brockett said.

“He was like, ‘Obviously this is amazing, and we’re going to enjoy this for a little while. But the goal is to go right back and go win another one, because that's just the winning tradition here.’ And that's the mentality.”

A culture of greatness passed from generation to generation. pic.twitter.com/UIcjWKnK7q

— Virginia Men's Tennis (@UVAMensTennis) May 19, 2026

The title was the Wahoos’ third under head coach Andres Pedroso, who also guided them to the top in 2022 and ’23.

His first two championship teams, Pedroso recalled Tuesday, posted a string of convincing wins in the NCAA tournament. “And then this year these guys had to resurrect themselves and soul search and just go into really dark places to find ways to win in the middle of matches,” he said.

Against Columbia in the second round, Virginia dropped the doubles point and then lost five of the six first sets in singles.

Against South Carolina in the Sweet Sixteen, UVA lost five first sets in singles. In the semifinals against ACC champion Wake Forest, Virginia lost the doubles point and five of the first six sets in singles.

In the championship match against Texas, UVA dropped the doubles point again and then lost three first sets in singles.

None of that fazed the Wahoos, who edged Wake 4-3 and then rallied to defeat Texas by the same score.

“It’s just one comeback after the other, so this one’s really fulfilling,” Pedroso said.

None of the individual comebacks was more dramatic than top-ranked Dylan Dietrich’s in No. 1 singles Sunday. With the teams tied 3-3, all eyes at the University of Georgia’s Magill Tennis Complex were on the match between Dietrich, a junior from Switzerland, and Texas senior Sebastian Gorzny, who’s ranked No. 3 nationally.

Dietrich had dreamed of such a moment, where he’d have a chance to clinch a championship for the Cavaliers, but it started to feel like a nightmare, he said Tuesday, for a while in the decisive third set.

Gorzny led 3-1 and was serving at 40-40 in the fifth game. On the other side of the net, Dietrich grasped the magnitude of the moment.

“I try to focus just point after point, but it's easier said than done,” Dietrich said. “In the moment it felt like that point might be the whole match, that might be the last chance I will get in the third set to break him back, because he was serving great.”

Throughout the whole third set, Pedroso said Tuesday, “I was praying Hail Marys. I was praying Hail Marys the entire third set.”

He smiled. “And she came through.”

Dietrich won the deuce point to cut Gorzny’s lead to 3-2, then took four of the next five games to clinch the victory for the Hoos. Other winners in singles for Virginia were sophomores Keegan Rice and Jangjung Kim at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, and Brockett at No. 5.

He benefited from some luck late in his match, Dietrich said, “but I feel like we’ve earned that luck over the year. We’ve worked hard and hung in there every point and gave ourselves the best chance to win.”

On the side of the court, his teammates were in full voice as Dietrich and Kim battled in their matches. Brockett, who’d won in straight sets, said it’s “so much more nerve-wracking watching them play than playing yourself, because you can control what happens on the court for the most part during your match.”

The victory over Texas capped a remarkable year for the Hoos. Going into 2025-26, UVA expected to have Rafael Jódar and Roy Horovitz in its lineup this season. But Jódar, the ACC Freshman of the Year in 2025, decided in December to pursue a professional career, and Horovitz was available for only one match.

Even without Jódar and Horovitz, “I feel like we still did our thing,” said Dietrich, who teamed with senior Måns Dahlberg to win the NCAA doubles title in the fall.

“Everyone stepped up [who] had to step up. We all, I think, rose our level compared to last year. We had to. There was no other option and we all did, and I think it was kind of like we got thrown into like the deep end of the pool and we all had to swim, and we swam.”

Adversity doesn’t change his team’s mindset, Pedroso said. “We're still here to win a championship, and we're going to have to build and guys are going to have to step up and it's going to be character-based, and these guys bought in and were humble enough to listen and get some hard coaching. And so that was the mentality. The mentality never changes at Virginia. We're always trying to be the best, even if guys are injured or guys are, for whatever reason, not playing.”

Special day celebrating with special people 👊 pic.twitter.com/1gGbDpU3QX

— Virginia Men's Tennis (@UVAMensTennis) May 19, 2026

 

An appreciative crowd turned on a sweltering spring afternoon Tuesday to salute the NCAA champions. Pedroso started the proceedings, which included video tributes and an autograph session, by thanking fans for their support.

“All of you own a piece of this,” he said.

Later, during a media availability, Pedroso was asked about the turnout for the celebration.

“It shows me that I'm not lying to these kids when I recruit them,” he said, “because I tell them that it's different wearing the orange and blue, and it's different playing at the Boar's Head, and it's different playing on this team. And so for these Wahoo fans to show up and show their appreciation and their support, it's amazing.”

Under the format in place when Virginia won its first six NCAA titles, the singles and doubles tournaments followed the team competition. This was the first time  the Hoos came home together after winning an NCAA title and were able to celebrate their feat with supporters in Charlottesville.

That made Tuesday’s event extra special, Pedroso said, “because this community is such a big part of our success.”

There’s no end in sight to UVA’s dynasty in this sport, and Pedroso said the program’s approach won’t change.

“You just keep doing the things that you've been doing in terms of really pushing these guys academically, encouraging them to take tough classes, and to study what they feel like they want to do when they're done,” Pedroso said. “And then on the tennis court, it's just the utmost professionalism. And then off the court, it's just making your life about relationships and giving back and being a good human being and having good morals and values. And you just stay on that track.

“The championships are fun, but this will subside, and this will dissolve. At the end of the day, what sticks with you is the hard work, the process and the relationships. And so, yeah, we want to win championships every year, but it's not at the core of why we do it. The core is the relationships, being good human beings, and working hard.”

That hard work has paid off again. The Cavaliers have won seven of the past 13 NCAA tournaments. They finished 28-4 this season.

“It's so special,” Brockett said. “This one feels so sweet, especially since I don't want to say we were written off, but I feel like not many people believed in us to win this year. To be able to do it in the fashion that we did and just be a part of the history of this program and be a part of the legacy and put another banner up, it's amazing.”

After the NCAA final Sunday, Dietrich said, one of the first people he heard from was an incoming recruit, Jack Kennedy.

“He texted me, ‘Same time next year,’ ” Dietrich said, smiling. “I can’t wait. This is just really special, and hopefully we can run it back or just give ourselves the best chance to have another great season.”

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