The Cavaliers' youth and inexperience seem finally to have caught up with them.
The No. 5 seeded Virginia squad (20-8) dropped its fifth straight match last Friday, falling to the ACC's No. 4 seeded Wake Forest (13-8), 4-0, in the first round of the ACC tournament.
After starting the season by winning 20 of its first 23 games, the young Virginia team has not been able to pull out a victory for almost three weeks. The Cavaliers regularly play four freshman and a sophomore in their starting six, and the team's lack of exposure to tennis at the college level seems to be taking its toll.
"Since we have a majority of freshman, a lot of us didn't realize how long the season really was," freshman Nick Meythaler said. "There is a lot of wear and tear both physically and mentally and, going into the ACC tournament, we were really worn down and our confidence was not high."
The Cavaliers bested the Demon Deacons March 22 when they squeaked out a 4-3 victory, but they could not repeat the feat this weekend against a Wake Forest squad out for revenge.
"They were hungrier than we were," Meythaler said. "They fought harder, wanted it more and had a higher level of intensity. We were much flatter than we should have been."
The No. 1 doubles team of senior Michael Duquette and freshman Doug Stewart defeated the Wake Forest tandem of Derrick Spice and Brent Ross, 8-6, but the Cavaliers lost at the No. 2 and No. 3 doubles spot to fall behind 1-0 early on.
Virginia was unable to turn it around in singles play, as freshman Rylan Rizza, Duquette and freshman Darren Cohen lost in straight sets at the No. 2, 3 and 5 spots. Rizza fell to Spice by a tally of 6-3, 6-2. Duquette dropped a 6-3, 6-3 decision to David Bere while Cohen fell victim to Mike Murray 6-3, 6-1.
The recent string of losses means an NCAA bid for the Cavaliers remains in doubt.
"We're pretty much right on the bubble right now," Duquette said. "I'd say we have a 50-50 shot. If one of those recent 4-3 matches had gone our way, we would definitely be in."
The selection for the 64-team NCAA tournament field will be made April 30.
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