After a gut-wrenching loss Friday to No. 14 California that tested the resilience of the squad, No. 6 Virginia bounced back, taking down No. 8 Stanford 4-2 in a statement win at home Sunday. The weekend served as a full-circle moment for the Cavaliers (12-6, 4-4 ACC), who leaned on their resilience, embraced lineup experimentation and found answers under pressure.
“This adversity, these tough times — you need to have them to have great times,” Coach Andres Pedroso said he told his team following the match against the Golden Bears. “I don’t know when those great moments will come, but they will. And this is a real test of our culture.”
In Friday’s battle against the Golden Bears (13-2, 6-2 ACC), the Cavaliers found themselves in another close match against a top-20 team, but the Golden Bears proved just a little sharper in big moments, handing the Cavaliers a 4-3 loss.
The doubles point slipped just out of the reach for Virginia. With yet another new lineup — graduate student James Hopper and freshman Keegan Rice playing Line 1, sophomore Dylan Dietrich and freshman Rafael Jódar playing Line 2, and juniors Mans Dahlberg and Ty Switzer debuting at Line 3 — the Cavaliers found promise but could not seal the deal.
After breaking early, Dietrich and Jódar rode their strong baseline games to a 6-4 win on Court 2. The top singles duo turned Line 2 doubles partners capitalized on their strong forehands, translating their strong singles play into doubles.
“It’s different,” Dietrich said of partnering with Jódar. “[Jódar] and I play a quicker doubles — hit the ball big and try to finish points fast. It’s a different dynamic than with [Dahlberg], where it’s more about building the point and being tricky at the net.”
But Hopper and Rice, despite having an early 3-1 lead, couldn’t hold the momentum and fell 5-7, while Dahlberg and Switzer were broken midway through and lost 3-6.
In singles, it was a day of tight sets. At Line 1, Jódar earned a top-10 win 7-6 (4), 7-6 (3), overcoming a controversial call late in the second set that nearly swung the momentum. The win gave Jódar his 14th-straight win and improved his record to 10-0 on the top singles court. At Line 2, Dietrich continued with his strong play, breezing through his match 6-3, 6-3 and dominating points with his big forehands and a handful of aces.
In the middle of the lineup, freshman Roy Horovitz made his Line 4 singles debut. Still regaining strength after his ACL surgery, Horovitz showed flashes of promise, especially in a dominant second set, but fell 5-7, 6-1, 2-6 in a hard-fought battle.
“He’s dying to play,” Dietrich said of Horovitz. “He’s probably the hardest-working guy on the team right now — in rehab, in fitness, in practice. It was awesome to see him back out there. It didn’t go his way today, but he fought hard. And we need him. He’s working on becoming that rock for us, and I know he’ll get there.”
Hopper brought his trademark intensity and fight to Line 5, winning the first set 6-2 and then surviving an epic third-set tiebreak. Down 7-8 at one point, Hopper fought back to win 11-9, drawing cheers from teammates and spectators.
At Line 6, Dahlberg played one of the most intense matches of the day. Up 5-4 in the third set, the match slipped into another tiebreaker, where Dahlberg had a match point at 6-5 but ultimately fell 5-7, ending the match in the Golden Bear’s favor.
Less than 48 hours later, the Cavaliers faced off against No. 8 Stanford (13-5, 5-3 ACC) and flipped the script — just as Pedroso had predicted.
“We’re going to make some adjustments from today and just continue to fight hard,” Pedroso said after the California loss. “I challenged the guys to be problem-solving machines, and I think they will be. I think you’ll see a better Virginia.”
Another new doubles configuration — this time featuring Rice and Dietrich together for the first time — paid off immediately. The pair brought a fast-paced and aggressive style to Line 2, attacking returns early and controlling rallies to dictate points. Rice’s volley game complemented Dietrich’s steady presence from the back of the court, allowing the duo to roll to a dominant 6-2 win.
At Line 3, Hopper and Horovitz showed composure under pressure. The duo earned a crucial break at 5-5 and held serve to clinch the doubles point with a 7-5 victory — a strong debut pairing that blended Hopper’s experience with Horovitz’s quick energy at the net.
In singles, freshman Jangjun Kim reentered the lineup and immediately delivered a steady, composed performance at Line 5. Known for his steady play and smart point-building, Kim controlled tempo from the baseline and took advantage of short balls to close quickly at the net. His 6-3, 6-4 win gave Virginia its first singles point and early breathing room in the match.
Stanford, however, clawed back into the match. At Line 6, the Cardinals defeated Dahlberg 6-3, 6-4 and Line 4 saw the Cardinals edge out Hopper in a rollercoaster three-setter, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2. These results leveled the match at 2-2.
With pressure mounting, Dietrich delivered a response. He bounced back from a dropped second set by stepping inside the baseline and overwhelming his opponent with pace to win 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 at Line 2. He raced through the third set to put the Cavaliers back in front.
That left it to Rice at Line 3. After dropping the first set 4-6, Rice responded with more energy. He surged through the second set 6-2 to force a decider, but the third was anything but smooth sailing. Rice fell behind multiple times, down a break, but each time, he found answers — grinding out rallies, redirecting pace, and keeping his footwork steady under pressure. Down in the third set, Rice rallied back, breaking his opponent at 5-4 to clinch the match 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 and secure the 4-2 victory for Virginia.
At Line 1, Jódar’s match was left unfinished. He had taken the first set 6-3, dropped a narrow tiebreak in the second, and was tied 1-1 in the third when Rice sealed the win.
Virginia, despite a rocky ACC slate in which losses, so uncommon in the last handful of seasons, have come with regularity. But Sunday’s win felt like a monumental marker and a massive result.
“Any culture can be great when we’re winning, but this is a real, true test of our culture, and I know the guys are going to handle it great,” Pedroso said.
The Cavaliers will look to build on Sunday’s win as they hit the road next weekend for a pair of ACC matchups, facing Notre Dame and Louisville.
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