Coming off two straight wins — a thrilling comeback over then-top-ranked Texas and a tune-up win over Georgia — No. 5 Virginia entered the ITA Team Indoor Tournament in Dallas ready to compete with the best tennis programs in the country. The Cavaliers (7-2, 0-0 ACC) did just that, beating a strong No. 20 Michigan team Friday, 4-2, before losing to the No. 3 Longhorns (9-1, 0-0 SEC) the day after in the quarterfinals, 4-1.
Virginia entered its matchup against the Wolverines (4-4 0-0 Big 10) eager to reach the latter stages of the early-season tournament. This Cavaliers side is still young, with three freshmen — Rafael Jódar, Keegan Rice and Jangjun Kim — playing almost every match.
Michigan took the doubles point early, winning on Courts 1 and 2. The doubles point has evaded Virginia in recent matches, with the team having to perform well across the board in singles to get wins.
And that happened Friday. Sophomore star and No. 56-ranked singles player Dylan Dietrich quickly evened the score, winning 6-1, 6-3 on Court 2 over another ranked opponent, again showing dominant service and the ability to hit winners with laser-like speed and precision to close out matches.
Rice then lost on Court 4, but the Cavaliers followed that up with the two other freshmen, Jódar and Kim, winning in straight sets to take the score to 3-2. The clinching point came shortly thereafter from junior Mans Dahlberg, who lost his first set 6-2 before winning sets two and three 6-1 and 6-3 to secure Virginia a rematch against the Longhorns, who beat Texas A&M in the first round.
Texas certainly came into the rematch with a chip on its shoulder — the loss to Virginia is still the only one on its record, and it was on a nine-match losing streak against the Cavaliers.
Ironically, Virginia was the team that took the doubles point, having lost it in the previous matchup. Dietrich and Dahlberg won 6-3, before Rice and graduate student James Hopper won by the same score.
The Longhorns were the next team on the scoreboard, with freshman Sebastian Eriksson defeating Kim 6-4, 6-1 on Court 6 — in another parallel, Kim had been the first to score for Virginia in the previous matchup, when he faced Eriksson on Court 5. At the time, the Cavaliers seemed to still have momentum, winning first sets on most courts, but that began to change as Texas, in inverse fashion to the previous matchup, began to pick up steam.
First it was Dahlberg losing on Court 5, then Hopper on Court 3. The Longhorns got the clinching point on Court 4, with junior Jonah Braswell defeating Rice in the third set.
At the time, both remaining courts were entering tiebreaks in the third sets, with Jódar and Dietrich both playing against the same singles opponents as in the previous matchup. Those matches finished unresolved, but point to a common theme of the season thus far.
In addition to its heavy reliance on freshmen to score points even against ranked opponents, Virginia might have one of the best top-two setups in the country. Jódar and Dietrich have both lost matches here and there, but a common theme in Cavaliers victories is winning those top two courts.
What comes next, then, is to start securing more favorable results on the middle two courts and the bottom ones. Thus far, Cavalier victories have often also seen points coming from Courts 5 and 6, so getting more consistent wins on those other courts will give the players on higher courts more room to breathe playing against some of the highest-ranked players in the country.
Before conference play begins Feb. 28, Virginia will play a consolation game Sunday against No. 19 NC State, which lost to No. 2 Wake Forest. The Wolfpack (7-2, 0-0 ACC) upset No. 8 Kentucky Friday, before falling 4-2 to the Demon Deacons (11-0, 0-0 ACC), one of the best programs in the country and one coming off a dominant 4-0 win over tournament host Southern Methodist.
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