The No. 1 Virginia men’s tennis team lost its first match since May 2012 Sunday at the ITA National Tournament held in Houston, Tex. Looking to capture their sixth ITA Team Championship, the Cavaliers fell short against No. 5 Ohio State in the semi-finals of the ITA tournament, 4-3. It was the Cavaliers’ eighth consecutive appearance in the semi-finals of the tournament.
Virginia started both the doubles and singles portion of the match trailing Ohio State. Senior duo Alex Domijan and Justin Shane fell early in the doubles portion to Peter Kobelt and Kevin Metka, the No. 2 doubles pair in the country. Junior Mitchell Frank and freshman Luca Corinteli evened the score to 1-1 with a win at the No. 2 matchup before sophomore Mac Styslinger and freshman Thai-Son Kwiatkowski clinched the doubles point at the No. 3 pairing.
For the singles portion of the match, the Cavaliers were tied with Ohio State, 3-3, before Kwiatkowski lost a hard fought match against Ohio State’s Kevin Metka. All three sets of Kwiatkowski’s matchup went into tie-breakers, with Metka clinching the last set and the win for Ohio State with a 6-5 (10) last set.
Earlier in the weekend, Virginia steamrolled No. 11 California with a 4-0 victory in the quarterfinals. The Cavaliers did not drop a single set in the matchup. The victory against California tied a school record for 36 consecutive wins set by the 2010 men’s team.
The Cavaliers also pushed past a new ACC rival No. 16 Notre Dame Friday. That victory marked the 108th consecutive win against ACC competition for the Cavaliers, though Virginia dropped its first doubles point all season during that match.
The men have the next few weeks off before they take on Baylor at home in Snyder Stadium on March 1.
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