Coming off a dominant 4-0 senior day win against No. 57 Louisville, No. 3 Virginia entered the day looking to close out the regular season in style. Facing off against Virginia Tech, they did exactly that. What seemed a lopsided matchup on paper swiftly proved to be as the Cavaliers (20-3, 12-1 ACC) cruised past the Hokies (6-15, 3-10 ACC), battling hard to secure the doubles point before crushing their opponents in singles to secure the victory,
While the doubles matches were tight contests, Virginia never showed any true signs of struggle and always seemed to be narrowly yet securely ahead.
On Court 2, freshman Andres Santamarta Roig and junior Dylan Dietrich showcased why they are two of the most exciting players in college tennis right now. Countless powerful forehands from Santamarta led to a 2-1 lead, which then grew to a comfortable 4-2. The Hokies then pulled one back to make it 4-3 to the Cavaliers. Santamarta Roig then hit a masterclass of a backhand volley that dropped just on the other side of the net, securing a 5-3 lead. Of course, such a shot was accompanied by his trademark fist bump and shouts of “Vamos.” Not long afterwards, the pairing cemented a 6-4 victory to put Virginia one set away from the doubles point.
Seeking that second doubles win, sophomores Stiles Brockett and Keegan Rice shot out of the gate on Court 3, as, almost no later than the match had started, they took a 3-0 lead. Facing off against graduate student Frank Thompson and freshman Drew Fishback, the bout seemed to be turning into a demolition, with the pair going 5-0 up with ease and completely dominating their opponents in all facets of the game. Surprisingly, Virginia Tech rattled off four straight games, pushing it to 5-4. Ultimately however, the match would not finish because of the result on Court 1.
The No. 48 pairing of sophomore Jangjun Kim and senior Mans Dahlberg went to work against sophomores Blake Hilsen and Eyal Shumilov, getting an early 2-1 lead. Then, trailing 0-30 in the subsequent game, they brought themselves all the way back, making it 40-30 before a huge forehand return by Kim off his opponent's serve gave them a 3-1 lead. From there, despite losing two more games, the two always looked in control. Up 5-4, a powerful serve from Dahlberg then a volley from Kim made it 40-30. The Hokies would hit the net on the next point, allowing the Cavaliers to clinch the set and, with it, the doubles point.
Following a rather competitive round of doubles matches, Virginia, needing only three singles wins to cap off a 20-3 regular season, showed no signs of weakness.
No. 17 Rice took down sophomore Patrik Jurina on Court 2 for the Cavaliers’ second point. Despite a close first game, Rice got up a swift 2-0, effortlessly moving around the court in the following games to make it 5-1, eventually sweeping in the last game to clinch the first set. For Rice, the second set was just as routine as the first, cruising to 2-0, and then 4-2 lead, before winning 6-2 and giving the Cavaliers a 2-0 lead in the dual.
On Court 1, having recently reclaimed the No. 1 ranking, Dietrich faced off against No. 102 junior Ilyas Milad Fahim. Dietrich picked up a quick 1-0 lead, before storming back from down 0-40 in the second game to make it 2-0. As is par for the course for Dietrich, a great mix of power and kick serves drew poor returns from his opponent, leading to cross court finishes for Dietrich. The Swiss junior would go on to win the first set 6-2. In the second set, despite a lightning fast start for Dietrich, going up 4-0, Milad Fahim was able to work his way back, winning 3 straight games. From there, the two exchanged games before another great kick serve and killer cross court forehand from Dietrich won the match 6-4, clinching the second singles point.
On Court 5, Brockett completely dominated his opponent, senior Julian Lozano, in the first set. Up 5-0 within the blink of an eye, Brockett was in total cruise control, whipping the ball around the court before handing his opponent a 6-0 loss. As the second set began, Brockett again looked infallible, making every shot imaginable seem effortless, such as a forehand down the line to make it 2-0. Down 3-0, Lozano finally pulled one game back to make it 4-1. Then, in a bizarre turn of events, Lozano won 6 out of the next 7 games to clinch the second set 7-5 in an absolute thriller, forcing a third set that would ultimately go unfinished.
After a fairytale senior day last week, where senior Douglas Yaffa delivered the clinching point in his final home match as a Cavalier, he looked to do the same against Hilsen on Court 6. Despite going 3-1 down early, he remained resilient as the two traded the next few games before Yaffa pulled away with a 6-4 win. At the time of the match’s completion, Yaffa trailed 3-2 in the second set.
No. 122 Kim and Fishback engaged in what was certainly the most tightly contested match of the day, exchanging long points throughout the match and keeping it within one game right up until the very end. Despite Kim leading 2-1 in the first set, Fishback played well, narrowly holding on before Kim, using his forehand to walk his opponent down, tied it up at three apiece and eventually pulled away to win 6-4. The second set was just as close as the first, all square at 3-3, then 4-4, then 5-5.
While Kim then went up 6-5, unfortunately, like with Court 5 and Court 6, his match would not get the chance to finish.
On Court 3, No. 49 Santamarta Roig had a similar match against Shumilov to Brockett on Court 5. The first set was a beat down, as Santamarta reeled away with a 6-0 win. In the second set however, he really had to dig in, as Shumilov pulled away with an early 3-1 lead. Santamarta, however rallied, leveling it at 3-3 before walking away with a 6-4 win and the last of the singles points.
Having concluded their regular season with a routine 4-0 win over their rivals — giving Virginia a 11-4 lead in the Commonwealth Clash — the Cavaliers now turn their attention to Cary, N.C., for the ACC Championships from April 15 to 19. The specific brackets for the ACC championships will be finalized once the final regular season matches end over the weekend.
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