Advancing to the NCAA tournament quarterfinals for the 19th time in 21 seasons, No. 5 Virginia weathered a strong start to singles by No. 13 South Carolina to punch a ticket to Athens, Ga. with a 4-1 win. Against the 13-seed Gamecocks (18-9, 8-6 SEC), the 4-seed Cavaliers (25-4, 12-1 ACC) reaffirmed their ability to seize a dual’s momentum, coming back on several courts to take the dual in impressive fashion, with No. 114 sophomore Jangjun Kim’s three-set victory clinching the win.
Virginia got off to a quick start in doubles, pulling away late on two courts to start out 1-0. Up 5-2 at Line 2 and 5-3 at Line 3, both courts reached deuce, before the Cavaliers won both in quick succession to end doubles play.
At Line 2, Kim and freshman Andres Santamarta Roig had earned an early break before going on a run to get up 4-2, then 5-2. After their opponents sent a shot long, they put Virginia one point away from the doubles point.
The Cavaliers’ sophomore pairing of Keegan Rice and Stiles Brockett then wrapped up doubles play on Court 3, a Brockett volley ending the set at 6-3 and putting Virginia up 1-0. At the time, No. 12 senior Mans Dahlberg and junior Dylan Dietrich were just a few points away from wrapping up as well, leading 5-3 at Line 1.
Though doubles was largely smooth sailing for the Cavaliers, singles was not going to be as easy.
“I told the team after the doubles points specifically that South Carolina was going to respond and they were going to fight like heck at the beginning of the singles,” Coach Andres Pedroso said after the match. “And that's exactly what they did. They might have caught a couple of our guys by surprise.”
The Gamecocks, trailing 1-0, won five of six first sets, forcing the Cavaliers into dogfights throughout the order. Four courts saw the first set reach a 5-5 deadlock, and South Carolina secured a win on all of them.
Fortunately for Virginia, their lone first set win quickly turned into a 2-0 lead in the dual. On Court 2, No. 21 Rice was dealt a tough assignment in No. 85 redshirt freshman Paul Barbier Gazeu, a creative and technical player with a penchant for net play and an arsenal of shots geared around throwing off Rice’s pace.
Soaking up pressure at the baseline and finding his shots when he could, Rice earned early breaks in both sets, winning the first 6-2 and the second 6-3. A forehand on the approach followed by an immaculate drop volley to his left sealed the deal for Rice, while all five of his teammates battled to force third sets.
As Rice wrapped up his straight-set win, Brockett had just won his second set with a hold on deuce on Court 5. After losing the first 6-4 — having led 4-2 at one point — Brockett had rebounded with a quick 6-2 win in the second set, finding his tempo in more rallies and forcing errors with regularity. The third set would be even quicker than the second, as Brockett got off to a 4-0 start before wrapping up a 6-1 win shortly afterwards.
South Carolina earned its lone point on Court 4, where sophomore Max Stenzer came out on top against No. 58 Santamarta Roig. Stenzer, a powerful server with a cannon of a forehand, proved to be a difficult matchup for Santamarta Roig, who was playing on Court 4 for the first time since March.
After losing the first set 7-5, Santamarta Roig found his momentum in the second, forcing Stenzer into long backhand rallies and finding his shots with precision when he needed to. In the third set, however, Stenzer adapted to Santamarta Roig’s pace, finding his forehand with more regularity and firing his first serve to win it 6-1.
Up 3-1, the Cavaliers looked to three third sets for the clinch. In the most tightly-contested match of the day, No. 1 Dietrich had just entered the third set against No. 14 senior Lucas Andrade da Silva on Court 1. Da Silva had taken the first set 7-5, before Dietrich had taken the second with a 7-3 tiebreak win. On Court 3, Kim had dropped the first set 7-5, but had won the second 6-2 and looked to have all the momentum, up a break at 3-2. Dahlberg had also just entered a third set, losing the first 7-5, winning the second 6-3 and tied at 1-1 in the decider.
It was not long before it became clear where Virginia would get the clinch. Hitting surgical winners that sailed past No. 73 junior Sean Daryabeigi or forcing him to hit uncomfortable shots that flew long or wide or into the net, Kim held all the cards on Court 3. After acing Daryabeigi at 3-2, 40-30, Kim quickly broke Daryabeigi to get up 5-2 in the third. Starting the game out down 30-0, Kim won three straight, before an errant overhead tied it at deuce. After a short rally, a hard-hit forehand shot on the approach iced the dual, with a crowd of over 600 erupting into cheers.
“When he has the crowd behind him like that, and he's riding that momentum, there are not too many guys in college tennis who are better than him,” Pedroso said. “He's a skilled tennis player, and when he's got that energy, it's another level.”
At the time, da Silva had just got up 1-0 in the third set against Dietrich, while Dahlberg led 3-1 in the third on Court 6. The Cavaliers, showcasing grit and a capacity to find and capture momentum, forced third sets on all five courts that the Gamecocks had led on, escaping with a win and advancing to the Elite Eight.
The Cavaliers will now travel to Athens to face the winner of 5-seed Mississippi State and 12-seed Georgia in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament. Both SEC sides have yet to drop a point in the NCAA Tournament this year, with the higher-seeded Mississippi State (24-5, 11-3 SEC) having won the two squads’ regular season dual 4-2.
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