The Virginia men’s tennis team won two big ACC home matches this weekend, first beating Virginia Tech, 7-0, Friday and beating North Carolina Sunday, 4-3.
On an unseasonably chilly Friday afternoon, No. 4 Virginia (20-1, 7-1 ACC) looked strong from start to finish against in-state rival Virginia Tech (9-11, 3-6 ACC). Senior Thai-Son Kwiatkowski led the way for the Cavaliers with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Virginia Tech senior Jai Corbett. Freshman Carl Soderlund got to play in his first match since Feb. 20, and won against Virginia Tech freshman Alexandre Ribeiro in a match featuring two tiebreakers. Virginia won every other singles point in straight sets.
Coach Brian Boland was proud of the way his team battled in spite of the poor weather conditions.
"These were really tough conditions for both teams, but learning how to play in these elements can only help down the road because you never know what sort of adversity you will face," Boland said. "This was certainly difficult to play in, but I am proud of the guys. I thought they came out and focused during the entire match. It was nice to see Carl [Soderlund] back on the court after an almost eight-week layoff.”
Sunday, the Cavaliers faced off against a strong North Carolina team in front of one of the largest crowds all season. No. 11 UNC (19-3, 6-2 ACC) edged out the doubles point to take a 1-0 lead in the match. In singles play, Kwiatkowski narrowly lost the first set 6-4 before showing signs of frustration and ultimately losing the second set 6-0 to North Carolina senior Ronnie Schneider.
Down 2-0, things didn’t look good for the Cavaliers, and there was very little margin for error in the final five matches. However, junior Collin Altamirano got things going for the team with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over junior Robert Kelly of North Carolina. Virginia pulled off two more singles wins, putting the Cavaliers up 3-2 with two matches left. On court two, junior Alexander Ritschard let an early lead slip away and eventually fell to North Carolina freshman William Blumberg.
With the score deadlocked at 3-3, all eyes were on the court five matchup of Virginia junior Henrik Wiersholm and North Carolina senior Jack Murray. In a microcosm of the entire match between the Cavaliers and the Tar Heels, Murray was down early after losing the first set, but came back and took the second and third sets to win the whole match for the Cavaliers. With the win, Wiersholm is now 14-0 in singles this season. The win also puts North Carolina at two losses in the conference.
Wiersholm was resilient in the win and won points when it mattered most.
“We talk a lot about resiliency, and that’s what epitomized my day, at least,” Wiersholm said. “I started finding my serve, I started finding what would bother him and when it comes to the big moments, I love being there for my team. As soon as I saw that it came down to me, I had no doubt in my mind that I would come through for us.”
Boland, who periodically gave advice to Wiersholm in the waning moments of the last match, was very pleased with his performance.
“[Wiersholm is] a fun guy to coach, because he can execute a lot of things that you can ask him to do,” Boland said. “I mean, strategically, he has a lot of versatility and variety in his game. He has a big toolbox, so when you play a match like this, you want to make sure you can use it … He made some tremendous adjustments, so all credit to him for playing a great match.”
The Cavaliers played North Carolina earlier in the season in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships, winning 4-0. Sunday, the Tar Heels came out eager for revenge. While they did not get the result they wanted, they will certainly be a major factor in the ACC and NCAA Tournaments in several weeks.
Boland acknowledged the opponents’ strengths after the match.
“UNC’s a really great team,” Boland said. “Congratulations to them. They’re going to be a team that will be a big challenge come down the road in the NCAA Tournament, so we just need to keep getting better and focused and enjoy every minute of this incredible journey together.”
Altamirano played as well as he has all season, and commented on the great rivalry between the two teams.
“I knew going into it we’ve played UNC quite a bit. It’s a fun little rivalry,” Altamirano said. “We know it gets a little personal, but that’s the fun of it.”
Virginia next plays Georgia Tech at home Thursday at 5 p.m., and then has three road matches and one home match to close out the season.
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