The top-ranked Virginia men’s tennis team had a busy weekend competing in the ITA National Team Indoors Championship. As favorites, the Cavaliers hope to hoist the trophy for the fifth time in the past eight years.
The Cavaliers’ opening matchup was a sweep against No. 16 San Diego. The Toreros put up a good fight, but the Cavaliers proved to be too much to handle as they cruised to victory with four wins and with the remaining matches going unfinished. Key singles victories by sophomores Collin Altamirano and Henrik Wiersholm put the Cavaliers up 3-0, and the game was clinched with senior Ryan Shane’s 7-5, 6-1 victory against San Diego senior Uros Petronijevic.
In the quarterfinals, the Cavaliers matched up against a determined Wake Forest team. Virginia dropped the doubles point due to two tough 7-6 losses, and moved on to singles knowing it had to win four of six.
The Cavaliers started off strong with Shane’s impressive 6-3, 6-1 victory over Wake Forest sophomore Skander Mansouri, junior J.C. Aragone’s 6-1, 6-2 victory over Wake Forest freshman Dennis Uspensky and sophomore Collin Altamirano’s 6-2, 6-3 win over Demon Deacon senior Jon Ho.
The Cavaliers were up 3-1 when the contest got tight. Virginia junior Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and senior Mac Styslinger suffered rare losses to tie up the match 3-3. It was then that Wiersholm came up clutch for the Cavaliers and defeated sophomore Christian Seraphim 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to cap off a hotly contested match with a Virginia victory.
After a tense, 4-3 win against Wake Forest, the Cavaliers moved on the semifinals against No. 2 Texas Christian. After an up and down performance against Wake Forest, the Cavaliers got back to their best with a 4-1 win against the second ranked team in the nation. The Cavaliers won the doubles point and rolled through three singles victories, only dropping one point in a rare Shane defeat. The match was clinched when Styslinger defeated TCU freshman Eduardo Nava 6-4, 6-4.
The Cavaliers now move on to the tournament finals against North Carolina at 11 a.m. Monday in what should be a tightly contested finale. While the Cavaliers should be favored to win, they know not to allow any room for error, as they seek to obtain their first trophy of the year.
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