It was again business as usual for No. 10 Virginia as it easily dispatched No. 22 Tennessee 6-1 to maintain its perfect start to the season. Virginia (3-0) recorded its third straight win against a ranked opponent but was denied a clean sweep by the determined play of Tennessee's Bobby Cameron.
Cameron recorded the only upset of the day with a three-set win over Virginia's Marko Miklo. No. 64 Miklo, playing at the No. 4 slot, never found his best form because of a wrist injury and lost the first set 2-6. Miklo forced a deciding set by winning the second set 6-4, despite the fact that Virginia had already clinched the match. He eventually lost the super breaker 10-5 to become the first Cavalier to lose a singles match this season.
"He just couldn't serve," Virginia coach Brian Boland said. "He was just doing it for our team, and I thought he did a good job."
Tennessee's hopes of recording an upset were dashed early when they lost the doubles point to Virginia. The freshmen duo of Treat Huey and Somdev Devvarman were easy winners over the Vols Morgan Wilson and Cameron 8-2. Tennessee's Ockie Oosthuizen and Ben Rogers, ranked No. 16 nationally, overcame an early deficit to win 8-4 over Virginia's Nick Meythaler and Rylan Rizza. The pair from Tennessee rallied to win seven straight games to become the first team this season to defeat a Virginia doubles team. Darrin Cohen and Doug Stewart secured the doubles point for Virginia with an 8-6 victory over Kiril Tcherveniachki and Mark Dietrich.
"Virginia played great today," Tennessee coach Chris Mahony said. "Definitely, if we had won at No. 3 doubles, we would have had more momentum going into singles."
Virginia was again extremely dominant in singles play. No. 19 Stewart, playing at the No. 1 slot for Virginia, had to deal with the big serve of Dietrich early in the match but comfortably won in straight sets 6-4, 6-4.
"He just had [a] cannon of a serve," Stewart said. "He served really well, and that puts a lot of pressure on your serve because you're not going to break him often."
No. 38 Rizza extended Virginia's lead by overcoming Oosthuizen 6-3, 6-4. No. 22 Devvarman, playing at the No. 3 slot, defeated Tennessee's Wilson in straight sets 6-3, 7-5. The freshman was impressive in his first start for Virginia after nursing a wrist injury.
"[My wrist] affected me a little bit in the beginning," Devvarman said. "But once I got into it I tried not to think about it."
Virginia assistant coach Tony Bresky also was impressed but felt the young Cavalier did not play his best.
"It was a very nervous Somdev out there," Bresky said. "He can certainly play at a higher level than he did today."
Boland still insists the team is yet to play its best.
"This was certainly a great win for our program," Boland said. "I think we can certainly play better. Some guys didn't play their best tennis but they hung in there."
Virginia will continue its five-match home stand when No. 36 Alabama visits the Boars' Head Inn Sports Club on Saturday.
Read More
Live tracker: the men’s basketball offseason
By Michael Liebermann , Emory Huffman and Xander Tilock | 13 hours agoA frenetic offseason likely awaits.
Virginia’s future belongs to ‘the silent assassin’
By Michael Liebermann | 16 hours agoOdom is more reserved, people around his programs say. He is also a fiery competitor.
Women’s lacrosse overpowers VCU in dominant road win
By Eleanor Buchanan | 19 hours agoVirginia gained some offensive momentum before a tough upcoming slate.
