No. 6 Virginia men’s tennis continued its strong start to the season with a pair of wins at home on ITA Kickoff Weekend.
The Cavaliers (5-0, 0-0 ACC) started the event on Saturday with a 4-0 win against Ball State. Sophomore Chris Rodesch and senior William Woodall picked up a 6-2 victory in their doubles match. Similarly, sophomore Iñaki Montes and senior Ryan Goetz claimed a 6-3 win on their court. After taking the doubles point, Virginia did not look back in what turned out to be a fairly quick match overall.
The Cavaliers swept all six first sets in singles. Graduate student Bar Botzer, playing at the No. 1 singles spot for the second time this season, picked up a 6-1 and a 6-4 victory. Botzer was followed by two more dominant performances from sophomore Jeffrey von der Schulenberg and Goetz. With the win, Virginia advanced to play Georgia Tech in the championship match.
Against the Yellow Jackets, the Cavaliers stayed hot with another 4-0 win, but this match came with much more resistance. Botzer and Schulenberg fell in their doubles matchup while Montez and Goetz took a 6-2 win in theirs, leaving the doubles point up to the final court. Woodall and Rodesch won a close one against the No. 3 ranked doubles team of Andres Martin and Marcus McDaniel to lock up the point for Virginia.
Schulenberg, Goetz and graduate student Gianni Ross were all able to win their singles matchups in order to clinch the match for the Cavaliers. They have now secured a bid to the 47th Annual ITA National Team Indoor Championships, where they will look to win their seventh championship in the event and first since 2017.
“The guys were ready,” Coach Andres Peroso said. “You could tell in doubles. You could tell in singles. They went on their runs in doubles and we just hung in there and stayed composed.”
Virginia returns to action on the road against Kentucky on Feb. 4. The match is slated to begin at 3 p.m. live from Lexington, Ky.
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