The No. 7 Virginia men’s tennis team traveled to North Carolina this weekend for a pair of ACC matches, handily defeating No. 6 North Carolina 7-0 and No. 13 Duke 5-1.
The Cavaliers (12-2, 4-0 ACC) faced the Tar Heels (15-3, 2-1 ACC) Friday afternoon in a clash of top-10 foes. Virginia took a 1-0 lead from the doubles portion with wins on two of three courts. Senior Justin Shane and freshman Thai-Son Kwiatkowski together clinched an 8-7(4) win after the teams split the first two matches.
In singles play, No. 6 junior Mitchell Frank, No. 33 senior Alex Domijan, No. 123 Kwiatkowski and freshman J.C. Aragone each won in straight sets, putting the Cavaliers up 5-0 and guaranteeing the win. Justin Shane and his brother, No. 45 sophomore Ryan Shane, followed with victories in three sets against North Carolina junior Oystein Steiro and No. 51 sophomore Brett Clark, respectively, to complete the shutout. This was only the second time the Tar Heels have been held without a point in a match in the last two seasons — both times against the Cavaliers.
Virginia returned to the court two days later against Duke (10-5, 2-1 ACC), a matchup of the conference’s best two teams in recent years. As part of the USTA College Match Day series, the singles portion was held first with doubles only to follow if the teams were tied.
Two-set wins by Domijan, Ryan Shane and Aragone put the Cavaliers on the verge of victory with a 3-0 lead. Blue Devil sophomore Josh Levine kept Duke’s hope alive with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 win against Justin Shane, but Frank and Kwiatkowski ensured Virginia’s seven-year undefeated streak in the ACC — now standing at 111 matches in a row — would survive with wins on the second and fourth courts.
The Cavaliers return home next weekend for a trio of matches against Miami, Florida State and William & Mary.
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