On the road for their third and fourth consecutive games, Virginia men’s tennis took down No. 19 Wake Forest Friday and No. 22 North Carolina State Sunday to remain undefeated in the ACC and extend their winning streak to 11 games. The Cavaliers (19-4, 10-0 ACC) had no problems with the Demon Deacons (22-9, 6-4 ACC) in the first game cruising to a 4-0 win, before handling the Wolfpack (13-8, 7-4 ACC).
Match 1 – Virginia 4, Wake Forest 0
Virginia wasted no time getting a lead against Wake Forest. The Cavaliers got off to a blazing hot start and never looked back. The dominating effort started on doubles courts, where junior Iñaki Montes de la Torre and fifth-year student William Woodall earned the first doubles match by a score of 6-2. Following them was the pair of juniors Chris Rodesch and Jeffrey von der Schulenburg, who won their match 6-3, securing the crucial doubles point.
Graduate student Ryan Goetz continued the momentum into singles courts, where his opening match score of 6-1, 6-3 put the Cavaliers up 2-0. Rodesch and von der Schulenburg, fresh off their doubles performances, handled business, with scores of 6-2, 6-3 and 6-4, 6-4, respectively. The Cavaliers would go on to win 4-0, securing victory in their first match of the weekend.
Match 2 – Virginia 4, NC State 2
After cruising to a relatively routine win against the Demon Deacons, the Wolfpack presented a slightly tougher task. As they did against Wake Forest, Virginia wasted no time winning the doubles point. Goetz and junior Alexander Kiefer started things with a 6-2 win, and Montes and Woodall sealed the point with a 6-3 win.
The Cavaliers won the doubles point with ease but faced more opposition on the singles courts. Von der Schulenburg had no trouble winning the first match, 6-3, 6-0, pushing the lead to two points. However, North Carolina State responded with a win over Goetz to cut the lead in half. Rodesch would win the next match 6-4, 6-4, but freshman Mans Dahlberg dropped the following one to continue the back-and-forth affair.
Up 3-2, Virginia just needed one more win to secure the match. Montes was up to the task, securing a 7-5, 6-2 victory to finish off a 4-2 victory for the Cavaliers.
Virginia is starting to get hot at the right time, with playoff tennis approaching. Home matches against Clemson and Georgia Tech will wrap up the regular season, and the Cavaliers will then turn around for the ACC Championships. The conference is strong this year — six teams are currently ranked in the top 25. Having performed so well within the ACC gives the team faith that they can claim their second straight national championship.
The Cavaliers will face Clemson Friday to start the final homestand of the season. The match is set to begin at 5 p.m. and can be streamed on virginiasports.com.
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