The Virginia men's tennis team was back in Charlottesville on Thursday to continue its busy schedule with a match against Brown. Unfortunately, the Cavaliers (9-6) were unable to produce a breakthrough win against the Bears (8-8), a team recently ranked among the top 60 in the nation. The Cavaliers gave the Bears plenty of challenges, but fell, 5-2.
Virginia coach Brian Boland said he felt his team was capable of beating a high-powered team like the Bears and was disappointed that the Cavaliers did not play to their full potential.
"We just played flat," Boland said. "We haven't come over the hump and made the next step yet. We can't afford to play flat."
Virginia started off the match winning one of the three doubles matches. The Cavaliers were able to pull out an early victory in the No. 1 doubles match as senior Michael Duquette and freshman Stephen Nolen defeated the Bears' team of Justin Natale and Chris Drake.
Virginia's big guns took this momentum into the singles matches as all top three seeds each won their first sets.
However, only Cavalier senior Jason Romesburg capitalized on his early lead by defeating his opponent, Nick Malone, in straight sets in the No. 2 seeded singles match.
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Malone, who usually plays at Brown's No. 1 position, recently was named to Ireland's Davis Cup team and will represent his country in the international competition against some of the greatest players in tennis.
"His game matched up well with mine," Romesburg said after his victory over Malone, who is ranked 89th in the country. "He played to my forehand, which is definitely my strength."
Boland commented on Romesburg's huge win with great praise.
"He's just a winner," Boland said. "He always finds a way to come up with a big win."
Although Nolen did not command his match as Romesburg did, he was able to produce a win in the longest match of the afternoon. After dropping the second set to Brown's Jamie Cerretani, Nolen battled back in the third set and won 7-5 in Virginia's only other singles victory.
The Cavaliers lost the remaining four singles matches, including No. 1 seed Duquette's match against Natale. Despite Duquette's strong start, breaking Natale's serve three times and winning the first set, Natale, who appeared frustrated at first, was able to turn his frustration into power and won the second and third sets in a commanding fashion.
The other Cavalier losses in singles came in the bottom three seeds. These matches weren't without their share of excitement, though, as Virginia No. 5 seed Jay Curtis rallied back from a 0-6 second set only to drop the third set 5-7 in a narrow defeat at the hands of Brown's Adil Shamasdin.
The loss leaves the Cavaliers at 9-6 on the season. The Cavaliers head back into ACC competition this weekend when they travel to Georgia Tech and Clemson.
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