Virginia men's tennis maintained its perfect ACC record Sunday with a 6-1 victory over Georgia Tech at the Snyder Tennis Center yesterday. The Yellow Jackets made the Cavaliers work for every point in a closely-contested match that almost went down the wire. Georgia Tech joined a select group of programs to challenge Virginia (14-2, 2-0 ACC) at all six singles slots, taking four Virginia players into three sets despite the Cavaliers' superior ranking at most positions.
"Georgia Tech's a good team and they fought hard," Virginia coach Brian Boland said. "They came in here and gave us a very good test and I think we needed that."
Virginia got off to a flying start by sweeping Georgia Tech in doubles play. The No. 44 pair of freshmen Somdev Devvarman and Treat Huey beat Jose Muguruza and Sukhwa Young 8-4 before juniors Darrin Cohen and Doug Stewart secured the doubles point by dispatching Scott Blackmon and Zachary Rath 8-3. The No. 29 pair of Rylan Rizza and Nick Meythaler completed the doubles whitewash by beating David North and Marko Rajevic 8-5.
Virginia's early dominance spilled into singles play with easy victories for Huey, playing at the No. 4 slot, and No. 40 Cohen, playing at No. 6. Huey won in straight sets over Rath 6-0, 6-3 to record his fifth-straight dual match victory. Cohen was just as impressive and was a straight-sets winner over James Doe 6-2, 6-2. The win continued Cohen's run of 11 wins in 12 matches, which has catapulted the junior up 60 spots in singles ranking.
"It's tough not to think about the rankings," Cohen said. "I think I am playing some of the best tennis of my life this season, and, hopefully, I can continue into the NCAAs."
With the Cavaliers up 3-0, Georgia Tech threatened to turn the tables and staged an admirable fight back. No. 20 Jose Muguruza recorded the only upset when he stunned No. 8 Stewart, playing at No. 1, in three sets. Muguruza was first out of the gates and rattled Stewart early by taking the first set 6-3. Stewart regained his composure to take the second 6-4, but Muguruza was not to be denied and raised the level of his game to take the deciding set 6-0, giving his team a crucial point.
Muguruza's win seemed to inspire his other teammates as Virginia began to struggle. No. 15 Devvarman appeared to be cruising in the second set against Rajevac, but Georgia Tech's No.3 player would claw back and take the set in a tie break. Devvarman returned to form in the third, winning 6-2 to put Virginia's victory beyond doubt.
No. 96 Marko Miklo had to battle injury midway through the second set but held off the challenge from Jordan Delass to take the match 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. With the Cavalier win secure, No. 38 Rizza survived the challenge from freshman David North in three sets, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6, in a closely contested and entertaining match.
"There was pretty good energy at the start," Rizza said. "I had a pretty interesting match."
Boland conceded that fatigue might have played a factor in his team's sub-par performance.
"This hasn't been the easiest stretch for us," Boland said. "We are trying to be well-conditioned and to pace ourselves, but it hasn't happened as much as we liked since we came back" from the trip to Texas.
Virginia will next play ACC foe N.C. State on Friday at Snyder.
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