For players on the Virginia men’s tennis team, the ITA Atlantic Regional in Blacksburg offered a second opportunity to earn bids to the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships in November. Held Saturday to Monday at Virginia Tech’s Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center, the tournament featured top collegiate players from across the region vying for NCAA qualification.
The Cavaliers made the most of it — by Monday afternoon, they had swept the titles in both brackets, with sophomore Keegan Rice winning the singles crown and the pairing of senior Mans Dahlberg and junior Dylan Dietrich capturing the doubles title.
Virginia filled both singles and doubles finals and secured NCAA berths for four players. In the singles draw, Rice — the No. 1 seed and No. 98 player nationally — advanced his way to the title with a victory over his doubles partner, sophomore Jangjun Kim. Both players earned automatic bids to NCAAs, which will be held Nov. 18-23 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.
Rice’s road to the title included straight-set wins over opponents from Middle Tennessee, Virginia Tech and VCU before he defeated Dahlberg in a hard-fought semifinal. Kim, seeded No. 2, posted an equally commanding run, beating Liberty’s redshirt freshman Ben Sparks in the semifinal to secure his NCAA qualification.
Rice’s run in Blacksburg adds to what has already been a breakout semester. The sophomore has solidified himself as one of the ACC’s rising stars after a strong showing at the ITA All-American Championships earlier this month.
The doubles bracket ended the same way the singles one did, with Cavaliers on both sides of the net. Top-seeded Dahlberg and Dietrich — ranked No. 18 nationally — defeated Rice and Kim in Monday’s final to clinch Virginia’s first regional doubles title since Ryan Shane and Luca Corinteli did so in 2014. With the win, Dahlberg and Dietrich earned a place at NCAAs.
For Dietrich, who had already secured a singles qualification earlier this fall at the ITA All-American, the victory made him a dual NCAA qualifier. The veteran pairing’s aggressive net play and poise in a tiebreak helped them withstand several tight matches, including a 10-7 super-tiebreak in the semifinals.
Sophomore Stiles Brockett and senior Douglas Yaffa also delivered solid performances, advancing deep in both singles and doubles. Brockett reached the singles quarterfinals before falling to Dahlberg, while Yaffa advanced to the Round of 16. Together, the duo made the Round of 16 in doubles after early wins over George Mason and Navy.
After falling to Rice in the semifinals, Dahlberg rebounded impressively to claim third place in singles, defeating Liberty redshirt freshman Ben Sparks. With the win, Dahlberg secured a spot in the NCAA singles alternate pool, keeping him in contention for postseason play.
The sweep marks the 11th time a Cavalier has captured the ITA Atlantic Regional singles title and the sixth time Virginia has taken home the doubles crown. It is also the fifth instance in program history that the Cavaliers have swept both titles at the same event.
As Virginia’s remaining players look ahead to the ITA Sectional Championship in Chapel Hill next month and the remainder of the fall season, the Cavaliers leave Blacksburg having reasserted their position atop the region — this time with trophies in hand and four NCAA bids secured.
Read More
Women’s tennis players shine at home invitational
By Thomas Baxter | 10 hours agoVirginia took the tune-up tournament in stride.
Volleyball falls to No. 5 Louisville, taking one set as Boothe returns
By Lauren Halak | YesterdayLouisville has only dropped 12 sets in 26 matches this season.
Missed opportunities and lapses plague No. 1 women’s soccer in defeat to No. 3 Stanford
By Peter Kratz | YesterdayVirginia's nearly two-month unbeaten run finally came to an end.
