The Virginia men’s tennis team (34-1, 11-1 ACC) topped North Carolina (29-4, 10-2 ACC) 4-2 in Athens, Ga. Tuesday following a rain delay to take home the national championship for the third consecutive year.
Virginia edged out the doubles point to start the match — seniors Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and Alexander Ritschard won the deciding set 7-5 to put the Cavaliers up 1-0. Ritschard continued his strong play into singles, where he took down North Carolina senior Ronnie Schneider to raise the Cavaliers’ advantage to 2-0.
The teams then went back and forth until Virginia was up 3-2, and it came down to the No. 5 and No. 6 singles matches — senior J.C. Aragone going up against North Carolina senior Jack Murray, and junior Henrik Wiersholm versus North Carolina sophomore Blaine Boyden. Aragone went on to defeat Murray 7-6 (2), 6-2 to secure the victory for the Cavaliers.
The match was a rematch of an earlier contest this season where Virginia defeated the Tar Heels 4-3 at Snyder Tennis Center in Charlottesville. Looking for revenge, the Tar Heels put in a strong fight but trailed the entirety of the match.
Head coach Brian Boland leaves Virginia having been in six of the last seven NCAA Championships — four of which he won — along with a host of other accolades that cement him as one of Virginia sports’ all-time greats.
The team also parts ways with four graduating seniors — Kwiatkowski, Ritschard, Aragone and Luca Corinteli.
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