This weekend the Cavaliers continued their great start to the season, taking down No. 13 Notre Dame 6-1 Friday and then capping the weekend by upsetting No. 5 Illinois 5-2 Sunday. The victory over Illinois was a rematch of a match against the Fighting Illini that Virginia lost last year 4-3 in Champaign, Ill.
Against Illinois, the Cavaliers jumped out to an early lead, winning the doubles point to go ahead 1-0. Freshmen Dominic Inglot and Houston Barrick led the way, winning their doubles match 8-4 over Ryan Rowe and Brandon Davis. Inglot and Barrick picked up a break in the seventh game with the score tied at three. Barrick used a strong backhand down the line to pick up a break to make the score 7-4 and seal the win.
The No. 7-ranked doubles pair of juniors Somdev Devvarman and Treat Huey was upset in its match by Kevin Anderson and Ruben Gonzales, but freshman Lee Singer and junior Ted Angelinos prevailed over GD Jones and Marc Spicijaric to give Virginia the point.
"Today we just came out and played unbelievable." Huey said. "Especially the younger guys, Lee just came in and played amazing tennis and Ted played great and without them in doubles we couldn't have done much."
In the singles matches, Singer struck first for the Cavaliers, defeating Davis 6-3, 6-0. After losing the first three, Singer reeled off wins in 12 straight games to win the match.
"I got off to a little of a slow start there, and I just picked it up." Singer said. "My teammates were just pumping each other up on the side, I think that helped a lot."
Angelinos won the first two games of his match and won a break in the sixth game to upset No. 83 Marc Spicijaric 6-1, 6-3 giving Virginia their third point of the match. The win by Angelinos put the Cavaliers up 3-0, needing only one more point to win the dual match.
Huey would provide the decisive point. Facing off against Gonzales, Huey used an ace in the eighth game to hold serve and tie the score at 4-4. The junior picked up a break in the next game, and went on to win the set 6-4.
"He was definitely wearing down right there," Huey said. "From then on, I just raised my level a little and he couldn't keep up."
Huey easily won the second set 6-2 to give the Cavaliers the fourth point they needed to wrap up the match. Huey used a variety of drop shots to defeat Gonzales, often faking as if he would hit it long and then at the last moment pushing the ball just over the net.
In No. 8 Devvarman's match against No. 23 Kevin Anderson, Devvarman fought back in the second set to get to a tie-break and eventually won 4-6, 7-6 (5), 1-0 (10-8) to make the final score 5-2.
Virginia started strong Friday against No. 13 Notre Dame, sweeping all three doubles matches and going on to rout the Fighting Irish 6-1. Huey and Devvarman set the tone for the rest of the match when they took down No. 11 doubles pair Ryan Keckley and Sheeva Parbhu 8-4.
The Cavaliers looked strong after beating two ranked teams this weekend, giving them plenty of confidence for the rest of the season.
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