The University men's tennis team stemmed a flow of losses with two wins over the weekend at the Boar's Head Sports Club. The Cavaliers made easy work of Boston College Friday, with a 6-1 victory, before surviving the challenge of Old Dominion later in the day, 5-2.
No. 71 Old Dominion made life difficult for the home team before Virginia's Somdev Devvarman broke Eidy Igarashi to secure the win and end the Monarchs' bid of a third victory in 23 meetings.
If Virginia was looking to make easy work of the Monarchs early, they would have been surprised by Old Dominion's tenacity in doubles. The 55-spot difference in the rankings between the teams was not apparent when Harel Srugo and Alex Seleznev beat the Virginia pair of Doug Stewart and Darrin Cohen 8-6 to set up a tense finish to doubles play. Virginia's No. 1 pair of Rylan Rizza and Nick Meythaler came through with pressure mounting to secure the doubles point by beating Henrique Cancado and Eigy Igarashi 8-5. Earlier, Devvarman and Chirico were easy winners, 8-4 over Matthew Sands and Nate Grover.
The Cavaliers appeared to be cruising when Cohen, playing at the No. 5 slot, made quick work of Sands 6-2, 6-2 to extend his win streak to four games.
"Darrin has done all he can to make me look bad because I pulled him out of the lineup," Virginia coach Brian Boland said. "He has clearly shown he is a high-level player and belongs on the court."
Chirico gave the Cavaliers a 3-0 lead when he easily got by the challenge of Grover 6-2, 6-3.
"I was just feeling the ball and I kept the ball in play," Chirico said. Grover "wasn't moving so well so I just ran him around."
Upset-minded ODU was unfazed and had reason to hope for victory when the impressive Srugo upset No. 31 Rizza. Srugo hit some impressive winners and served almost flawlessly en route to a 6-1, 6-4 victory. The tide appeared to be turning toward the Monarchs. Igarashi was up 5-4 and was serving to take his match with Devvarman into a third set. Devvarman, who was inconsistent throughout, turned it on when it counted and broke Igarashi to level the set at 5-5.
"I have been trying to work on a few particular things," Devvarman said. "It's fun being aggressive at times -- it changes it up a little bit."
With the wind seemingly out of his sails, Igarashi succumbed in the final game of the set, giving Devvarman a 6-4, 7-5 victory and the match for the Cavaliers. No. 92 Doug Stewart, playing at the No. 3 slot, was upset by Cancado 7-6, 3-6, 6-0 before No. 100 Marko Miklo came from a set down to even his marathon match with Seleznev. Miklo visibly raised his game in the super tiebreak and brushed aside his opponent to win 5-7, 7-5, 10-6.
Against Boston College earlier in the day, Virginia claimed the doubles point by sweeping all three matches. Devvarman and Chirico defeated the Eagles' duo of Soma Kesthley and Sam Wagner 8-3, while Cohen and Stewart defeated Jason Sechrist and Brian Hartness 8-4. The pair of Rizza and Meythaler completed the whitewash by beating Alex Rastorgouev and Dennis Reardon. In singles, Stewart defeated Kesthley 6-3, 6-2. Rizza, Miklo and Chirico each beat Sechrist, Wagner and Hartness, respectively. Rastorgouev gave BC its only point with a win over Meythaler 6-4, 0-6, 6-2. Stephen Rozek. With a rare start at the No. 6 slot, defeated Zach Wolfe 6-3, 6-4.
The Cavaliers' weekend wins appear to have erased memories of a difficult week that saw the team lose three consecutive matches.
"They were bad losses, but on one hand it was exactly what we needed," Boland said. "If you always win it doesn't always mean you will accomplish what you set out to do at the beginning of the season."
Virginia will resume its season outdoors on March 22 against in-state rival Virginia Tech.
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