Feb. 16, 2009

Virginia Repeats as National Team Indoor Champions
CHICAGO – The Virginia men’s tennis team captured its second consecutive ITA National Team Indoor Championship with a 4-1 victory over Georgia in Monday’s final at the Midtown Tennis Club. The Cavaliers improve to 12-0 on the season while handing the Bulldogs (8-1) their first defeat of the season.

Virginia took a 1-0 lead by winning a tight doubles point. After Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) and Dominic Inglot (London, England) won 8-4 over Christian Vitulli and Borja Malo at No. 2 doubles, the Cavaliers needed to win one of the other two matches, both of which went to a tiebreaker. At No. 1 doubles, third-ranked Houston Barrick (Brentwood, Tenn.) and Sanam Singh (Chandigarh, India) topped Nate Schnugg and Jamie Hunt 9-8 to clinch the opening point.

In singles, the Cavaliers doubled their lead as Barrick downed Malo 6-4, 6-0 at the No. 4 position. The Bulldogs got on the board at No. 1 singles where Schnugg defeated Inglot 6-3, 6-4 to make the score 2-1. Virginia extended its lead to 3-1 when Steven Eelkman Rooda (Amersfoort, The Netherlands) completed a 6-3, 6-2 win over Drake Bernstein at No. 5 singles. The match was clinched at No. 6 singles where Drew Courtney (Clifton, Va.) rallied for 0-6, 6-0, 7-5 win over Josh Varela.