The Virginia men's tennis team went 2-0 at a Boar's Head doubleheader Saturday, proving the promise of their young team. Georgetown and Norfolk State both fell to the No. 28 Cavaliers by a score of 6-1 in dual match play, as Virginia improved to 5-0 overall.
Virginia's previous three victories all came against ranked teams. This weekend's home opener featured unranked teams, however, and therefore brought a few new faces to the Virginia lineup. Nationally-ranked players Doug Stewart (No. 25) and Stephen Rozek (No. 62) received a rest on Saturday.
"We got to mix up the lineup today and give the guys a chance to play," coach Boland said. "They put a lot of time into the program, but they don't get the opportunity to play all the time. They did a great job today."
Play began at 11 a.m. against Georgetown. The lone victory for the 1-5 Hoyas came at the No. 6 singles spot.
Virginia's Nick Meythaler, Darrin Cohen, Rylan Rizza, Tim Taylor and Chris Gonyer dictated play in their singles matches, as did the doubles teams of Rizza/Meythaler, Gonyer/Taylor and Downing/Montandon.
Shortly after conquering the Hoyas, the Cavaliers served their way to another seemingly effortless win over Norfolk State in the second half of their doubleheader. Freshman Marko Miklo led the attack at No. 1 singles. Despite usually playing at the No. 4 spot, Miklo overcame the net-charging of Jakob Novak, 6-4, 6-3. After swapping games with Novak in the first set, Miklo used his consistent ground stokes and well-crafted passing shots to frustrate the Spartan.
"I was controlling," Miklo said. "I held my serve, and I broke him."
Miklo's dominant performance followed that of the successful doubles teams, Meythaler/Rizza, Rozek/Miklo and Cohen/Stewart. "We started out well in doubles, had a good win," Rylan Rizza said. "The guys were intense. They focused pretty well, and we continued to stay focused in the singles."
Rizza himself enjoyed a lop-sided victory over Petr Jakoubek, 6-0, 6-1. Cohen, Meythaler, and Taylor also cruised to victory for the Cavaliers in singles action, but Gonyer fell to Pavel Suchy at the No. 5 spot.
The Cavaliers' next obstacle lies in the form of a Hokie, and revenge is in order.
"We don't like Virginia Tech too much," Rizza said. "They're a huge rival and we lost a match to them that we had no business losing last year."
The men's tennis team has not outdone No. 55 Virginia Tech in the past five years, so their Feb. 11 journey to Blacksburg is one brewing with vengeance.
Ranked just No. 43 last week, the Cavaliers have jumped a surprising 15 spots up the charts in a seven-day span, following hard fought battles against Minnesota, Northwestern and Tennessee. This Virginia team, starting five sophomores and one freshman, faces a tough schedule though. Their season is jam-packed with challenging matches, with 17 of their 22 contests coming against ranked opponents, including No. 1 Illinois. ACC play begins for Virginia at home on Feb. 14 against N.C. State, and seven of the nine ACC schools are ranked.
Despite the team's deceiving youth, the Cavaliers welcome the challenge in the ACC.
"We're young, but we have a year of experience under our belts," Rizza said. "Give it two more years, and we're going to be among the top ten in the country. Virginia was never a tennis school at all, so now we're sort of becoming the buzz around the tennis world."
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