The No. 29 Virginia men's tennis team begins its ACC schedule tomorrow when unranked N.C. State comes to the Boar's Head Sports Club. The Cavaliers are coming off a 5-2 triumph over Virginia Tech and will look to improve their season record to 7-0 against the Wolfpack.
Virginia head coach Brian Boland is hoping the home court advantage will help the Cavaliers against a conference rival.
"I'm really pleased that we get to open at home in the ACC," Boland said. "Anytime you can have a little advantage in the ACC it's worth it."
The Cavaliers were able to defeat Virginia Tech for the first time in four years Wednesday. Virginia had strong performances from every spot on their lineup en route to the victory.
The Cavaliers won the doubles point, taking two of the three doubles matches against the Hokies to secure an early lead in the match. Virginia Tech's tandem of Angel Diankov and Morten Schultz defeated Virginia's Darrin Cohen and Doug Stewart, 9-7, but the Cavaliers answered back with a win from freshman Marko Miklo and sophomore Stephen Rozek against Virginia Tech's duo of Soren Spanner and Brent Wilkens, 8-2. In the other doubles match, Virginia's No. 24 ranked duo of sophomores Nick Meythaler and Rylan Rizza were able to hold off Andreas Laulund and Arvid Puranen for an 8-5 Virginia victory.
In the singles competition, Virginia's No. 25 ranked Doug Stewart easily won the No. 1 match against Laulund 6-3, 6-1. The Cavaliers also got singles victories from Meythaler, Miklo and Cohen.
Despite the young lineup, the Cavaliers have still found success this year.
"It's exciting to have a young team," Boland said. "We have five sophomores and a freshman in our starting lineup, and they are just gaining so much confidence."
The young team has responded well to early season challenges, defeating ranked opponents like then-No. 15 Minnesota, then-No. 54 Tennessee and No. 57 Virginia Tech. The Cavaliers now must see whether the early season challenges will translate into ACC success.
"I think we can play with any team in the ACC," Rizza said. "It would be nice to get a victory and start the ACC season 1-0. We'll definitely bring our 'A' game."
The Cavaliers begin the ACC schedule against a struggling N.C. State team that has a grueling upcoming schedule. The Wolfpack, currently 1-2, will open their ACC schedule today at Maryland before traveling to Charlottesville for tomorrow's matchup with the Cavaliers. N.C. State lost 5-2 to Virginia Tech on Feb. 8. But despite the Wolfpack's struggles, Boland is urging his players not to overlook tomorrow's match.
"Everybody in the ACC is good," Boland said. "When you play ACC tennis, the intensity increases."
In addition to looking to extend their undefeated season tomorrow, the Cavaliers also want to build on their early triumphs and create further momentum.
"We're very pleased with the start we were able to get off to," Boland said. "We just need to pace ourselves and continue to move forward, learn and improve."
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