After a team that reached the national semifinals loses three of its top six players, the following season may come with relatively low expectations for success. Add the fact that one of these players was arguably among the greatest singles champions in collegiate tennis history and that, together, the trio had lost only a handful of matches in their entire careers, and a team might have reason to write off the spring entirely.
For Virginia men’s tennis, however, there is no such thing as a rebuilding year.
“We feel like we have a very talented team,” sophomore Michael Shabaz said, adding. “there’s no reason” why Virginia could not win a national championship.
Heading into their first match of the spring season today at William & Mary, the Cavaliers find themselves No. 5 in the preseason Intercollegiate Tennis Association polls. That ranking speaks to the depth of last year’s juggernaut, the program’s first unblemished regular season before the postseason loss to eventual national champion Georgia. Although the team will be without Somdev Devvarman, winner of two straight NCAA singles titles, as well as his doubles partner, Treat Huey, the Cavaliers are still expected to contend with perennial tennis powers Ohio State and Texas for the team title come May.
“It’s only a matter of time before we hit our full stride,” coach Brian Boland said. “We’re young, talented, and I believe we have the right chemistry and work ethic to do some great things.”
The young talent begins with Shabaz, who is coming off a fall campaign during which he leapt from outside the ITA top-100 to No. 11 in the preseason polls. After making a run to the ITA All-American Championship singles quarters in Tulsa in October, Shabaz paired with senior Dominic Inglot in stringing together a host of upsets en route to winning the doubles’ backdraw of the ITA National Indoor Championships. The team’s starting six spots for the spring season have yet to be determined, but it is likely that the duo will provide the Cavaliers with a strong 1-2 singles punch up front and a formidable doubles pair.
“If I can win the singles or the doubles with Michael, that’d be another cherry on the cake,” Inglot said. “I think the main thing is just to win our matches in the team event.”
While winning matches was not a problem for Virginia during last spring’s regular season — the squad managed to go a perfect 25-0 while out-scoring ACC opponents 68-9 in conference matches — they’ve been tripped up in the national semifinals two consecutive years. Last season’s loss to Georgia was especially disappointing, considering the squad entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed and the clear favorite to win it all.
“It’s tough, because obviously we didn’t win the whole, entire thing,” Shabaz said. “At the same time, we did have an unbelievable season — by far the best in the country. But if you told me we could win a national championship and lose three other matches, everyone would take that because it’s a national championship.”
The Cavaliers will look to use last year’s disappointment as this year’s fuel as they attempt to extend their streak of 34 straight regular-season victories. Some coaches might fear their teams would have a been there, done that mentality after so many straight seasons of success on the court, but Boland’s athletes are far from complacent.
“I feel like a lot of people — all the guys returning — are going to remember how that felt and show the freshmen who aren’t familiar with it what it means,” Inglot said. “We don’t want to go through that again; it was a heartache to train so hard just to miss so narrowly.”
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