The No. 14 Virginia men’s tennis team stood strong at home as it took down No. 21 Notre Dame to open the weekend. The team rode the wave of momentum well into their Sunday match-up as they defeated Louisville to extend their winning streak.
It was an impressive showing all around for the Cavaliers (10-5, 4-0 ACC) as they defeated the Fighting Irish (10-5, 2-1 ACC) by a final score of 6-1. The doubles team of sophomore Iñaki Montes and sophomore Alexander Kiefer secured a 6-3 win on their court to open the doubles matches. They were quickly followed by the team of senior Gianni Ross and senior William Woodall earning a 6-2 win, clinching the doubles point for Virginia.
Kiefer and Ross went on to win the next two singles points and were followed by a victory from senior Ryan Goetz to take a 4-0 lead in the match. Although the Cavaliers had already sealed their victory, they played out the remaining courts.
Montes won his singles matchup in straight sets and sophomore Chris Rodesch picked up one more win to make the score 6-0 before Notre Dame picked up its lone point of the match as graduate student Peter Conklin managed a singles win against Woodall.
“Great effort from the guys today. Very consistent as far as the way we competed and the way we played on all the courts,” Coach Andres Peroso said. “Today was another day that we built. We built the way we compete, the way we look out there, the way we deal with adversity. I thought it was a great team effort.”
Virginia closed out the weekend against Louisville (11-5, 3-1 ACC), who came into this match on an eight-match winning streak. It was another incredibly impressive showing, as the Cavaliers picked up another 6-1 win.
The doubles matches saw the team of Ross and Woodall pick up a victory alongside Rodesch and Goetz to clinch the point. Rodesch, Goetz and Ross all won their singles matchups shortly after to take a 4-0 lead before the remaining courts were played out again.
The remaining matchups all went to three sets. Woodall won his first set by a score of 6-1, but dropped the second 6-2. After a full third set, Woodall finally won the tiebreaker 7-4 to secure his victory.
Sophomore Jeffrey von der Schulenburg lost his first set 6-4 before winning a tiebreaker in his second set. The third set of his matchup was a marathon, with Schulenberg finally pulling out a 14-12 win to extend the lead to 6-0 in favor of Virginia.
The Cardinals picked up their lone point of the day with junior Matthew Fung winning against Kiefer in the final singles match to avoid the shutout. The singles match between Fung and Kiefer went to three sets with Kiefer winning the first 7-4, but Fung managed 6-1 and 10-6 victories in the final two.
After a 4-0 start in Atlantic Coast Conference play, the Cavaliers appear to have found a strong sense of rhythm. They will look to continue that momentum as they go on the road to face Georgia Tech Friday and the match is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. They will go on to play at Clemson Sunday, with the match beginning at 11 a.m.
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