Friday in front of the largest tennis crowd in recent memory at the Snyder Tennis Center, with strong wind gusts blasting across the court, this year's Cavaliers became the first in history to sweep the ACC by dispatching Clemson 5-2. But this small piece of Virginia history means little to the Cavaliers. It's just business as usual.
"Yes, it's rewarding that our hard work has paid off," junior Rylan Rizza said. "But I feel like, 'You know, we expected to win the ACC.'"
The afternoon began with a roaring welcome from the Synder fans, accompanied by the marching band for the first time this season. The Cavaliers came out on the court in doubles with a little too much confidence, however, as Rylan Rizza and Doug Meythaler uncharacteristically came out flat at No. 1 doubles, losing 8-2. But Virginia rebounded after posting an 8-1 win in No. 2 doubles before clinching the point with an 8-5 win in No. 3.
Singles action started off with a dominating performance by Clemson's Nathan Thompson, ranked 22nd in the nation. After losing his last two matches against Cavalier No. 1 Doug Stewart, Thompson never gave Stewart a chance, beating him 6-1, 6-1.
The Cavaliers answered back with wins at No. 5 and No. 6 by Marko Miklo and Darrin Cohen. Soon after, the wind gusts picked up, putting all the players on edge.
"It was almost impossible to move the ball from one side to the other," said freshman Somdev Devvarman, who played at No. 2. "It looked pretty easy from the outside, but if you ask the guy I played, he'll tell you."
With patience, Rizza and Devvarman both outlasted Clemson's Clement Reix and Sander Koning. Devvarman used momentum from an incredibly long rally to clinch his match.
It was "at least a 50, 60 ball rally," Devvarman said. "I won that one and broke him immediately. That gave me lots of momentum. After that, he was out of it and threw in a couple of double faults. Once we got used to the wind, the level of tennis was pretty high. I just stayed a little more solid than him."
At No. 4, Virginia's Treat Huey, after battling to one set a piece with Ryan Young, 7-6, 4-6, dropped the third set super tiebreaker 10-1.
Cavalier coach Brian Boland praised his team's regular season trophy, even though he said he had expected domination back in January.
"It's a great accomplishment, and they should feel good about it," Boland said. "I feel great about it, too, but now's our opportunity to step it up to another level. We still as a team have not played a match where everybody played well."
With a week to prepare for the ACC tournament next week, the team will take a well-deserved break before plotting for the tournament in Cary, N.C. Unlike previous years, the rest of the conference will come gunning for the Cavaliers. That's just fine for them, though -- the Cavaliers already come in with great expectations.
"We expected to win the ACC conference, and we expect to win the ACC tournament," Rizza said.
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