For the No. 11 Virginia men’s tennis team, the beginning of the spring 2015 season has been puzzling. Although they boasts the top two singles players in the nation in sophomore Thai-Son Kwiatkoski and junior Ryan Shane, the Cavaliers have now dropped two matches in 15 days, both to the fifth-ranked Baylor Bears, following six straight wins to begin the year.
In Waco, Texas Sunday, Virginia (7-2) looked anything but the team that started the season so dominantly. The Cavaliers played Sunday’s match without Kwiatkowski and freshman Alexander Ritschard — the fifth singles starter — due to a coach’s decision, and their absences were pronounced from the start.
Virginia dropped the early doubles point as Baylor’s (9-2) second and third position doubles teams won 6-3 and 6-1, respectively, even though the No. 55 pairing of Shane and sophomore Luca Corinteli beat the 56th-ranked pairing of seniors Mate Zsiga and Tony Lupieri at the first position.
Following doubles, the two teams split the first four singles matches. First, Zsiga took down sophomore J.C. Aragone with ease at the fifth spot, 6-0, 6-2, pushing the Baylor lead to two points. Freshman Collin Altamirano put the Cavaliers on the board shortly after, besting No. 40 sophomore Max Tchoutakian in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. Next, junior Felipe Rios — one of nine internationals on the Bears’ squad — won 6-1, 6-4 against Virginia freshman Henrik Wiersholm, to push the Baylor lead to 3-1 with just three matches remaining.
Despite a slow start, Virginia was in a decent position to complete an impressive comeback, as all three remaining matches included nationally ranked players. First to finish was No. 59 senior Mitchell Frank, who battled back from a first set loss to upset the No. 23 Lupieri, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, bringing the Cavalier deficit to just one point.
In the next match to finish No. 11 Bear junior Julian Lenz, who took home the first-position singles point in the first matchup between the two teams, beat No. 2 Shane—the fall 2014 ITA Atlantic Regional Singles and Doubles Champion — in straight sets, 6-4, 7-5 at the one position. Although the fourth position match still had yet to finish, Lenz’s win clinched the victory for the Bears and sent the Cavaliers home searching for answers once again.
The Cavaliers will have only four days before Friday’s ACC opener against No. 12 Wake Forest in Winston-Salem, North Carolina where they will look to bounce back and begin the difficult ACC conference schedule.
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