The No. 3 Virginia men’s tennis team (28-1, 11-1 ACC) beat No. 1 Wake Forest (27-2, 12-0 ACC) 4-3 Sunday to win the ACC Championship in front of a crowd of 1,793.
Virginia won the doubles point to start the match, but Wake Forest competed to keep the score close throughout. Senior Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and junior Collin Altamirano got crucial singles victories, but Wake Forest ultimately came back from a 3-1 deficit to knot the match up 3-3, leaving senior J.C. Aragone and junior Christian Seraphim on court five to determine the conference champion. They split the first two sets, but in the third set Aragone pulled ahead and never looked back, going on to win 7-6 (10-8), 4-6, 6-3.
Aragone’s play earned him the title of tournament MVP — the second time the senior has earned the accolade. Aragone was also named MVP when the Cavaliers topped Wake Forest two years ago to win the 2015 conference championship. The Cavaliers not only avenged an earlier loss this season to the Demon Deacons — their only loss of the season — but also the 2016 ACC Championship match, when the Deacons won 4-3 and snapped the Cavaliers’ string of nine consecutive conference titles. The victory marks the 12th conference championship for the program. In each of those championships, the teams were under Coach Brian Boland’s direction.
The Cavaliers — riding an 11-match winning streak and earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament — will resume action in the NCAA Regionals, which start Friday, May 12.
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