Playing under the lights of Snyder Tennis Center Saturday night, the men's tennis team closed the day on a double-header sweep against No. 29 Georgia Tech 6-2 and University of Maryland-Baltimore County 6-1, bringing No. 54 Virginia's record to 14-2 overall, 1-0 ACC.
"I was really pleased with our overall effort today," coach Brian Boland said. "The best thing about this team is their ability to deal with adversity.It is especially impressive when you look at how young we are."
The Cavaliers opened the noon match against the Yellow Jackets with a disappointing drop of the doubles point, which has been eluding them early in the season.
"The doubles point is always very crucial," freshman Doug Stewart said. "We haven't been getting it lately, our doubles have been kind of struggling, but we knew going into the singles that we were better at every position, and with that we just played well."
Virginia rallied strong in the singles play, capturing five of the six matches.
"I thought we battled back very well in singles after losing the doubles point," Boland said. "I know it is frustrating for the team to lose the doubles because we have put so much time and effort into improving in this area."
Despite the early setback, however, the Cavaliers were able to regain composure and squash the Jackets, ending their former six-game winning streak.
"It's a huge momentum builder for us," Stewart said. "Last year we lost to them, and this year we crushed them. They're a good team, a lot older and more experienced then us. It's definitely going to be helpful going into the rest of the season with the win."
Boland noted the impressive effort of freshman players Stewart and Rylan Riza.
"What a great job these two first years have done leading our team at the top of the line-up," Boland said. "Rylan is on quite a winning streak, 16 straight team singles matches, and Doug has proven to be as good as any number one player in the country."
On the whole, the singles matches have been strong and consistent, which only should improve as the season progresses.
"We're doing very well in the singles," Stewart said. "I feel like we can win at least three singles against anyone, any team, and if we could get the doubles point, it would be hard to beat us."
Defeating Georgia Tech in the first ACC match of the season puts Virginia on good footing before going on to meet Wake Forest and NC State on the road in a week. The win also propelled the team into the easy victory over UMBC later Saturday evening.
"The UMBC match was a great opportunity to get everyone involved," Boland said of all 12 players being able to take to the court in at least one of the matches. "I like to play double-headers because it allows everyone to get a chance to play. We are one of the few programs that has this emphasis, but it works well for us. I thought the team did a great job and it is great for the starters to be on the other end once in a while so they can support their teammates."
The wins come in the wake of the team's Spring Break trip to the West Coast, where they balanced fun with laborious practices and intense matches, most notably in a heartbreakingly close loss to No. 3 UCLA.
"The match against UCLA gave our young team the confidence that we are as good as anyone in the country," Boland said."We had numerous opportunities to win the match, but the important thing is what we gained from the experience."
Boland cited senior and team captain Michael Duquette's leadership in spurring the shift in focus from the individual to the team as a unit.
"Mike is a total professional in every aspect and does a tremendous job helping the coaches prepare the team to compete," Boland said. "This team is a very close group and it is amazing in an individual sport like tennis to see every player put the team above their own personal agenda."
Assistant coach Tony Bresky also has contributed to the achievement of the team in his first season at Virginia.
"He does a tremendous job relating to the players on and off the court and paying attention to details which make a huge difference," Boland said. "He has been a huge asset and deserves some credit for our success."
The men's team will go on the road to meet conference rivals Wake Forest and NC State in North Carolina next weekend.
After having met No. 31 Wake Forest in the off-season, Stewart is "looking forward to another shot against [the Deacons]. They have a lot of older guys, and they will definitely be the next big test for us."