The Virginia men's tennis team maintained its undefeated record during the weekend, defeatingNo. 48 Kentucky 4-3 Friday and No. 51 Harvard 6-1 at the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar's Head Sports Club.
The Cavaliers defeated Kentucky in front of a season-high crowd of 716, without the help of two of the top three ranked players in the country -- No. 1 senior Somdev Devvarman and No. 3 junior Dominic Inglot. Devvarman returned home to India last week to play in the Davis Cup against Uzbekistan, and Inglot sat out with a sore arm.
Inglot's status has been cited as day-to-day, and he may return to action by Sunday.
Virginia coach Brian Boland "usually likes to pick the lineup in the last minute," Inglot said before the match. "Either way ... the team is really strong."
Inglot's words were prophetic in this weekend's match, unlike last weekend's win against Michigan, where Virginia flopped in doubles but came from behind in the dual match to take the lead in singles, Virginia started the match ahead Friday as the Cavaliers won all three doubles matches.
Opening doubles competition without his partner Devvarman, senior Treat Huey teamed up with freshman Michael Shabaz, defeating their opponent with a close 9-8 (1) win complete with a controversial call from an umpire and nail-biting tiebreaker.
With the help of a late break, the No. 17 tandem of senior Ted Angelinos and sophomore Lee Singer were able to defeat freshman Will Beck and sophomore Alex Lambropoulos at No. 3 doubles, 8-6.
Adding to the emotional factor of the match, the No. 2 doubles match, which featured freshman Sanam Singh and sophomore Houston Barrick versus seniors Marcus Sundh and Will Ward, included a point penalty against Kentucky in the tiebreaker for the third overrule against the Wildcats. Singh and Barrick cruised to a 7-1 victory in the tiebreaker, giving the Cavaliers a 1-0 lead.
Singles were a different story: Both teams tallied three match wins, Singh downed Sundh 6-3, 6-1, Angelinos defeated freshman Alberto Gonzalez 6-2, 6-4 and No. 83 Barrick won against freshman Brad Cox 7-5, 6-3 to lead Virginia to the 1-point victory.
Kentucky, however, was able to pull out a few wins against the Cavaliers -- Singer fell to Beck 7-6 (4), 6-4, and Shabaz fell to Ward 6-4, 6-2 and in the final match of the day, No. 31 junior Bruno Agostinelli defeated No. 12 Huey 3-6, 6-4, 10-7.
The close win came as no surprise for Boland, who predicted the match's outcome would come down to a close-margin win.
"This was the competitive match that we knew it was going to be," Boland said.
The Cavaliers continued to work their perfect-season magic against Harvard, improving to a 7-0 record with the 6-1 victory. The team also set a new school record as this win extended the Cavaliers' home winning streak to 21 matches.
Again without Devvarman and Inglot Sunday, Virginia won two of three doubles matches and five of six singles matches, holding the Crimson to two wins for the match.
"The most important reason for the team's success has to do with how hard each individual has worked this entire year," Barrick said. "I believe this team works harder than any other tennis team in the country. It all starts with our three captains. They are all great leaders who lead by example."
Virginia grabbed the lead early in Sunday's match, as Huey and Shabaz overwhelmed senior Dan Nguyen and freshman Aba Omodele-Lucien 8-0. Angelinos and Singer then secured an 8-5 win against sophomore Michael Hayes and junior Chris Clayton, while Barrick and Singh fell 8-5 to No. 14 senior Ashwin Kumar and junior Sasha Ermakov.
"My teammates and myself have really been trying to spend a lot of time together to help form great team chemistry," Barrick said. "Team chemistry might be the most important thing for our team this year."
After a 25-minute power outage delay, the Cavaliers took two quick wins -- one from Angelinos against Omodele-Lucien 6-1, 6-2, and Barrick against Nguyen 6-1, 6-3. Singh clinched the dual match win with his 6-2, 6-2 win against Ermakov. Singer then added to the margin with a defeat of freshman Will Guzick, 6-3, 6-4. The Crimson received their only singles point when Shabaz fell to Kumar 7-5, 6-4. Once again playing out the last match of the day, Huey defeated Clayton 6-3, 7-5.
"We have a great deal of depth on our roster and it showed this weekend," Boland said. "We were without Somdev and Dom, but ... the guys who stepped into the lineup played well."
Inglot also remarked about the team's strength he witnessed from the bench.
"[Sitting on the sidelines] I really saw how versatile and deep in strength the team is," Inglot said. "I think we can go a long way this year. We also have to remind ourselves that hard work is the only way to keep succeeding and I'm sure this team will have no trouble there."
The undefeated Cavaliers will travel to Seattle this week to participate in the ITA National Team Indoors, where they will be the No. 1 seed.
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