Sunday's match against the University of North Carolina probably did not go the way the seniors of the Virginia men's tennis team envisioned their final home contest.
The No. 25 Tar Heels (16-5, 7-1 ACC) controlled the match and left Charlottesville with their seventh conference victory of the season, 6-1, which will place them second in the conference behind Duke going into this week's ACC championship.
Cavalier seniors Jason Romesburg and Jonathan Chou lost their singles matches in straight sets against North Carolina's Daniel Pinchbeck and Geoff Boyd, respectively. Their two losses were among five the Cavaliers (11-11, 2-6) suffered in singles play after the Tar Heels swept them in all three doubles matches.
Despite Romesburg and Chou's losses, Virginia coach Brian Boland had nothing but positive remarks on the two seniors' performance and leadership throughout the season.
"They are two of the finest young men I've ever had the opportunity of coaching," Boland said. "They are the two best captains I have ever had throughout all my years."
The bright spot in the match for the Cavaliers came in the No. 2 singles match, in which freshmen Stephen Nolen dominated the Tar Heels' Trystan Meniane. Nolen's straight sets win improved his season record to 20-16, tying him with Romesburg for the most singles victories on the team.
"It was the most complete match he has played all year," Boland said about Nolen's impressive victory. "His struggles early on in the season were from lack of match experience. Now that he has that experience he is playing at the level we all knew he could compete at."
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The strength for Virginia all season has been their consistent doubles play. All three matches against North Carolina showed how the Cavaliers have established strong teams that complement each other well. Even though they were not successful at winning any of the three match-ups, the teams were able to fight back each time North Carolina showed signs of going on a run.
The Cavaliers were unable to come up with a much-needed break of North Carolina's service, which might have given Virginia the spark it was looking for.
The season is not over for Virginia. The loss for the Cavaliers left them with a 2-5 conference record, which will seed them seventh for the upcoming ACC tournament in Raleigh, N.C. The team will have to face eighth-seeded Maryland in the first round of competition.
"We had a pretty rough stretch," Chou said. "We will take a day off and get the competitiveness back for next week."
As for the future of the program, Virginia will have to adjust to having a young team next year. Only Nolen, freshmen Jay Curtis and sophomore Gregg Alpert will return with extensive match experience under their belts from this year. The focus, however, will most likely fall on Virginia junior Michael Duquette, who played at the No. 1 seed for the Cavaliers in almost every match this season.
"They are going to have to look to Mike [Duquette] to continue the leadership role he started this year," Chou said.
Romesburg kidded about the ending of an era after his last home match, but honestly admitted, "The future is bright for these guys"
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