Neither history, inclement weather nor the seemingly intimidating talent of No. 5 Duke couldprevent the Virginia men's tennis team from taking a share in its first-ever ACC regular season title Sunday. Victory was sweet for the Cavaliers as they fought back a late Duke surge to take the match, 4-3, avenging last year's 7-0 loss to the Blue Devils in Durham, N.C.
Virginia coach Brian Boland was quick to commend his players on the monumental achievement.
"[I] couldn't be happier for this bunch of guys," Boland said. "They've worked really hard all year and stuck together."
Virginia started out strong in the doubles competition, with No. 31 Rylan Rizza and Nick Meythaler upsetting No. 5 Jason Zimmerman and Ludovic Walter, 8-3. Marko Miklo and Stephen Rozek then made the doubles point safe for Virginia, dispatching Stephen Amritraj and Peter Rodrigues, 8-5. With the crucial doubles point already secured, No. 16 Philip King and Jonathan Stokke saved the blushes of the Blue Devils, winning in a tie breaker, 9-8, against Virginia's Doug Stewart and Darrin Cohen to prevent the whitewash.
"We worked really hard on our doubles and it paid back big time," Boland said.
Things seemed to be going perfectly when Miklo, playing in the number three slot, raced to a 6-3, 6-4 victory over No. 122 Peter Rodrigues. The win preserved Miklo's perfect record in the ACC, increasing his winning streak to eight games.
Virginia then stormed into an a 3-0 lead when Doug Stewart, playing at the No. 1 slot, defeated fifth-ranked Philip King, 6-4, 6-0 to register the biggest upset of the afternoon.
"I got out to another good start, put some pressure on him and I thought he felt it," Stewart said.
Boland commended his No. 1 seed on probably the most commanding performance of the day.
"What I was most impressed about [with] Doug was the way he handled himself the whole match," Boland said. "He didn't give an inch and when he doesn't give an inch he can beat guys like that in the country."
From a position of unassailable superiority everything suddenly fell apart for the Cavaliers. Nick Meythaler never found his rhythm in a 6-4, 6-3 straight sets loss to Jason Zimmerman. Stephen Rozek lost to the big hitting Jonathan Stokke 6-7, 3-6.
With the team match hanging in the balance, all eyes were on court two, where Rylan Rizza, playing in the second slot, faced No. 16 ranked Ludovic Walter. In a game in which both players showed flashes of brilliance, Rizza shone brighter, claiming the first set 6-4. The pair then exchanged stunning shots in the second set to force it into a tense tie-breaker, which Walter won with the aid of his booming first serve. Rizza reasserted his dominance in the third set, breaking Walter twice and then served his team into Virginia tennis history to take the third set and the match. Like Miklo, Rizza ended the season perfect in the ACC.
"[We've] got to get up for the ACC matches," Rizza said. "Coach emphasizes the ACC a lot and I am lucky to come to play on the ACC days."
The win snapped Virginia's 25-match losing streak to the Blue Devils, a streak spanning seven seasons. It also helped the Cavaliers to a 7-1 mark in the conference and a tie for first place with North Carolina -- the best ever record by any Virginia tennis team.
With the regular season over, Boland and his boys will now turn their attention to the ACC tournament as they try again to make history. Virginia will meet Florida State in the quarterfinals before a potential semi-final rematch against Duke.
Amazingly, Boland said he believes the team is still not playing its best tennis and hopes some players will regain their early season form. That can only bode well as Virginia aims to extend what has already been a magnificent year into the postseason.
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