Virginia men's tennis now stands at 4-3 in the ACC after losing their fourth and fifth matches this season on the road at No. 8 Duke and No. 41 North Carolina last weekend.
Difficulty in capturing the doubles point has plagued the Cavaliers this season and has been the cause of several close losses, including that to the Tar Heels.
The singles play was split, 3-3, but after dropping the first point early, the No. 30 Cavaliers were forced to accept the heartbreaking upset to close off the Carolina trip.
Earlier in the weekend, Virginia faced extremely tough competition at Duke, where the match was played indoors due to rain in the morning.
This seemingly minor detail proved to be somewhat controversial because it served as an advantage for the Blue Devils, who have made a name for themselves notably on the indoor courts.
"Going into the Duke match, all of the players on the team thought we had a huge shot at breaking Duke's ACC regular season win streak," freshman Doug Stewart said. The Blue Devils' streak now stands at 55 straight matches against ACC opponents since 1996.
Duke swept all three doubles matches to put the Blue Devils one up with the point.
Virginia fell behind in the doubles early, a trend that has haunted them all season.
"It is very difficult to come back when you get behind early," Steward said. "We kept battling, but were unable to break their serve the whole match."
Virginia went into the singles with determination, but was unable to pull through in three super tie-breakers and lost the match 7-0.
Virginia moved into Sunday's match at North Carolina somewhat disheartened by the previous day's loss and fatigued from the rigorous play, but conscious of their advantageous ranking above the Tar Heels and prepared to pour out their talent and desire to win.
Virginia's vigor shone through in the doubles, where the No. 3 Meythaler-Rizza team held on, while the Gonyer-Nolan team at No. 2 barely dropped the match in a hard-fought tie-breaker.
Following the disappointment, "we knew that each position had to step it up in order to make the match ours," freshman Darrin Cohen said. "The difference for me was that I was able to get off to a good start and had a really great third set."
Cohen, along with senior Michael Duquette and sophomore Chris Gonyer, was able to clinch his match for the Cavaliers.
"We just went in fighting as hard as we could," Cohen said.
In a heartbreaking match, Virginia fell to North Carolina 4-3.
The Cavaliers are looking forward to the next set of matches, the earliest of which will be played against non-conference opponent Virginia Tech at home on Wednesday.
"Virginia Tech is our in-state rival and a very good team, who we have lost to each of the last three years," Stewart said. "This is a very good chance for us to bounce back after two painful losses over the weekend, and it would feel really good to do it against Tech."
The matchup of state schools will provide a chance for the Cavaliers to boost confidence and regain momentum before heading into the last ACC match of the season. The Cavaliers will face Clemson next weekend in a match that will set the tone as Virginia heads into the conference tournament.
"The match will give us a good break from the ACC pressure, and playing against Virginia Tech especially will make the match more about playing for Virginia and school pride," Cohen said.
The Cavaliers will open the Wednesday afternoon doubleheader against the Hokies at 2:30 at Snyder Tennis Center, and again against Radford at 6:30.
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