At the beginning of this season the men's tennis team looked as though it would be carried by the doubles team of juniors Somdev Devvarman and Treat Huey. But as the season began, freshmen Houston Barrick and Dominic Inglot emerged as an incredibly strong doubles tandem. The pair won its first three matches of the season against strong teams from Notre Dame, Illinois and William & Mary before dropping its first match of the season Friday against VCU.
"I was pretty glad we won the first couple" of matches, Inglot said. "Let's make sure that's the last time we lose."
Barrick and Inglot came back Sunday to defeat the team of Joseph Jung and Saketh Myneni from Alabama.
In the preseason this year, Barrick and Inglot played several doubles matches together in order to gel their relationship on the court. They scored a big upset in the U.Va. Classic back in January when they defeated the then-No. 6 Old Dominion team of Cancado and Srugo.
"Those guys are a great doubles team," Barrick said. "Anytime you can beat a team of that caliber you're going to gain confidence."
"When you play your first couple of tournaments and you beat a top-10 pair, then you definitely make yourself think you can beat anybody out there," Barrick said.
Barrick and Inglot have helped lead the Cavaliers to a 4-1 record so far in doubles matches. Winning the doubles point gives a huge advantage to the Cavaliers, taking a little pressure off of players to win their singles matches. Virginia had been able to parlay wins in the doubles matches into comfortable victories over opponents before its recent road trip when Virginia won both matches 4-3. Inglot and Barrick have backed up Huey and Devvarman to make the Cavaliers' doubles teams an intimidating factor for opponents.
Huey and Devvarman are often seen cheering on the Cavaliers' other doubles teams during matches, but that doesn't mean there isn't a little friendly competition going on between pairs.
""We don't want to make them [Devvarman and Huey] feel too comfortable at number one because we want to challenge them for that spot," Inglot said.
Barrick said he's glad to have Devvarman and Huey on the team.
"They're a great doubles team," Barrick added. "It's great to have them there, cause they're a great team together, it takes a little pressure off of us."
Barrick and Inglot did not know each other very well before they arrived at Virginia but seem to have found chemistry now that they are paired together.
"He [Barrick] played some of the men's opens, and he hung out with us, we got to know him pretty well since he'd already committed," Inglot said. "I played doubles with him in one tournament before we started to play here."
The duo also shares many of the same classes and spends time together, eating dinners together and going out together on the weekends.
"If we go out, we go out together." Inglot said. "I tease him and tell him to give me rides and tell him to give me his spare pizza."
A key reason for Virginia's undefeated start to the season has been the play of Barrick and Inglot. If they continue to play this well together, the Cavaliers should gain an advantage in the doubles section of every match they play.
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