The No. 7 seed Virginia men’s tennis team delivered a dominant opening weekend performance in the NCAA Championship. The Cavaliers (22-7, 9-4 ACC) stormed through their home regional at the Virginia Tennis Facility, dispatching Bucknell in the first round and Princeton in the second to punch their ticket to the Round of 16.
The Cavaliers will now turn their attention to a showdown with No. 10 seed Arizona, which claimed the Big 12 title this season in its first year in the league. The Wildcats (26-4, 6-2 Big 12), ranked No. 10 in the ITA rankings, will face Virginia for the first time in program history. The Cavaliers will have home-court advantage for the battle.
Facing the Patriot League champions Saturday for the third time since 1975, Virginia wasted little time asserting control. It dominated doubles and closed out the match with straight-set wins at Lines 4, 5 and 6, never allowing the Bison (19-7, 6-1 Patriot League) a chance to get a foothold.
The tone was set in doubles. Junior Mans Dahlberg and freshman Jangjun Kim, playing together for the first time, clicked immediately with a 6-1 win at Line 2. Just moments later, freshman Rafael Jódar and freshman Roy Horovitz delivered a matching 6-1 victory at Line 3 to secure the doubles point.
Kim kept the energy going in singles. Playing at Line 4, he raced through the first set and closed out a 6-1, 6-3 win to extend Virginia’s lead to 2-0. This win extended Kim’s singles record to 15-5.
Next up was freshman Stiles Brockett, who found his rhythm early and never let up at Line 6. In his first singles win since April 4, Brockett bageled his opponent in the first set and rolled 6-3 in the second.
That left the clinch to Dahlberg. He delivered once again, powering through Line 5 with a steady 6-3, 6-2 victory to close out the sweep and extend his singles win streak to nine.
The win over Bucknell set up a second-round clash Sunday against the Tigers (22-9, 5-2 Ivy League), a team Virginia swept 4-0 last season in the Charlottesville regional. But this year’s edition featured a deeper Princeton lineup and windy conditions at the Virginia Tennis Facility that forced both sides to adjust. In one of their most composed performances of the season, the Cavaliers once again rose to the occasion, dispatching Princeton 4-0 and booking a return to the third round for the sixth straight year.
Virginia started strong in doubles, responding to a challenge from Coach Andres Pedroso to bring more energy and unity than it had the day before.
“I didn’t think yesterday that we really played together as much, and we didn’t have the energy and the positivity that we needed to be at our best,” Pedroso said. “So I challenged the guys to come out today and be more ready, more positive, and just showing more positive emotion throughout the match. And I saw it.”
Jódar and Horovitz set the tone with a 6-3 win at Line 3. On the top court, the No. 31 pairing of Dahlberg and sophomore Dylan Dietrich followed with a 6-4 win over the No. 49-ranked duo of sophomore Paul Inchauspe and senior Filippos Astreinidis to clinch the doubles point. It was one of Virginia’s cleanest doubles performances of the season, and the impact carried into singles.
Kim, who had been the first to finish against Bucknell, played with the same precision at Line 5 singles. He broke in the first game, aggressively targeted his opponent’s one-handed backhand, and finished with an inside-out forehand passing shot to win 6-4, 6-2 and give Virginia a 2-0 lead.
Next came freshman Keegan Rice, who rebounded after a rough Saturday with one of his most clutch performances. After taking the first set 6-2, Rice fell behind 2-5 in the second. But the freshman refused to let go of the match. He clawed his way back to 5-5, held serve, and then broke to win 7-5, clinching the second set with a massive forehand winner.
“He started playing better in the second set,” Rice said of his opponent. “And it was just a couple of points, really, that made the difference. When he went up, I knew that I could get those points right back. Just stayed in it. Every point made him really earn it, and I got my chances.”
Playing in front of a growing home crowd, Rice said the energy helped him stay focused and motivated.
“There's been a lot more fans, a lot more support,” Rice said. “That's really nice to see, knowing that these people have your back, and it's on the courts that you train on every single day, so obviously you feel a bit more comfortable.”
With Virginia up 3-0, all eyes turned to Line 1, where Jódar — ranked No. 4 in the nation — was locked in a tight second set. After cruising to a 6-1 first set win, Jódar was broken late in the second but broke back at 5-6 to force a tiebreak. There, he pulled away with a dominant stretch, taking the final four points to win 6-1, 7-6 (3) and clinch the match.
Virginia led on multiple other courts when the match was called, including a tight three-set battle in Dietrich’s match and a 7-6 (7), 1-1 scoreline at Line 4 for graduate student James Hopper.
But the day belonged to Virginia's underclassmen. With freshmen anchoring Lines 1, 3, and 5 — and contributing key doubles wins — the Cavaliers played like a team ready for a second-weekend push.
That push begins Saturday at home at 1 p.m. against Arizona.
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