The best of the best in college tennis gathered in Tulsa, Okla., to compete in the ITA All-America tournament last week. Sophomore No. 104 Michael Shabaz delved deepest into the tournament for Virginia, winning six consecutive matches, including a straight-set victory against No. 2 Denes Lukacs of Baylor, before falling in the quarterfinals to No. 31 Enrique Oliveras of East Tennessee State (7-6, 3-6, 2-6). Reaching the quarterfinal round guarantees Shabaz a singles berth in the ITA National Indoor Championships in November.
Shabaz’s stellar performance highlighted the week for Virginia as he excelled in the qualifying rounds, fighting his way to the main draw, which held a field of 64 competitors. Five of the sophomore’s victories were against top-100 opponents — Shabaz defeated No. 53 senior Sascha Heinemann of Hawaii (6-2, 6-3) and No. 87 sophomore Jay Goldman of Arizona (6-4, 6-7, 6-2) in the qualifying rounds. Shabaz cruised through the first three rounds of the main draw defeating No. 69 senior Chris Clayton of Harvard (6-2, 6-0), the highly touted Lukacs (6-2, 6-4) and No. 14 junior Bruno Rosa of Rice (6-0, 6-4) before falling to Oliveras in the quarterfinal.
Virginia junior No. 75 Houston Barrick also advanced to the main draw from the qualifying rounds, while senior No. 18 Dominic Inglot and sophomore No. 82 Sanam Singh automatically qualified for the main draw: Inglot because of his preseason ranking, Singh because of his ITA National Summer Championships singles title in August. All three lost their first-round matches in the main draw, though Barrick bounced back in the subsequent backdraw, reaching the semifinals before falling to freshman Raony Carvalho of Texas Tech (3-6, 4-6).
The Cavaliers will travel next to Chapel Hill, N.C., to compete in the ITA Mideast Regional Championships beginning today and continuing through Tuesday.
—compiled by Emily Bareford
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