The Virginia men's tennis team knew it was going to win. But that didn't stop the Cavaliers from avoiding a letdown and putting together one of their most impressive performances of the year.
In both teams' last conference match of 2001, Virginia (11-5, 4-4 ACC) completely manhandled Maryland (4-11, 0-8), 7-0, and gave the Terrapins yet another winless ACC season. Maryland, who plays without athletic scholarships, has not won a conference match in over four years.
"Obviously, we expected to win," Virginia coach Dick Stockton said. "We knew we were a much stronger team given their situation. But you still have to go out and play, because you never know what can happen. We needed to get on them from the beginning and put them away, and that's what our guys did."
In yesterday's match on the courts of the Sheridan Snyder Tennis Center, the Cavaliers were able to mix up their lineup. Junior Jonathan Chou and freshman Greg Alpert, who normally do not play in singles, played the fifth and sixth spots, respectively. Both also won their matches in straight sets.
Senior Brian Hunter, who usually competes at No. 5 singles, played No. 3 and routed Maryland junior Jonathan Murchison, 6-0, 6-4. Junior Jason Romesburg moved from No. 6 to No. 4 singles and, in the longest match of the afternoon, put away Terp senior Larry Chou, 6-3, 6-3.
"It was good to give opportunities to the younger players and for them to have experience," Virginia senior Brian Vahaly said. "They need that for the up-and-coming years. They'll be able to look at a match like today and know what it was like being out there and what they need to do to play well."
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Things were as usual at the top of the Cavalier lineup, where Virginia seniors and top players Vahaly and Huntley Montgomery completely overpowered their opponents. Shortly after Montgomery routed Terrapin senior Jonathan Neeter, 6-1, 6-1, Vahaly overwhelmed Maryland sophomore Chris Chiu, 6-3, 6-0. Vahaly's victory gave him his second-straight undefeated season in the conference to close out his ACC career with a bang.
"The ACC season for me was unbelieveable," Vahaly said. "It went so much better than I even expected. There were so much pressure and expectations. People play their best every time against you because they know that you're the one everyone wants to beat. I'm amazed I played as well as I did throughout the year."
The Cavaliers prevailed in all three doubles matches as well for the doubles point. The second-ranked team of Montgomery and Vahaly sailed over Maryland's Neeter and Larry Chou, 8-2, and Hunter and Jonathan Chou shutout Murchison and senior Luan Nguyen, 8-0. The No. 3 doubles team of Romesburg and Alpert, after going down, 6-1, to Chiu and Kenshalo, came back to win, 9-8. It was Alpert's first career doubles match.
"I was excited about [Romesburg and Alpert's] effort," Stockton said. "Even though they were behind and we already won the doubles point, they played as if the match really meant something. That's the way I want them to play."
Yesterday's win, despite being almost guaranteed, was crucial for the Cavaliers in their hopes of going to the NCAA Tournament. It was also probably one of Virginia's shortest matches of the season, as the Cavaliers won all six singles matches in straight sets. With three matches left to go in the next five days, playing quickly is by no means a bad thing.
"I was happy about today," Stockton said. "We still have a lot of tennis to play. The shorter we can keep our matches, the better we can be in the long run. Our top guys played - and played well - and our younger guys also got a chance to play, so it was a great day for us in general"
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