March 16, 2009

No. 1 Virginia Wins 4-3 Thriller at No. 10 Texas
The No. 1 Virginia men's tennis team rallied for a thrilling 4-3 victory over No. 10 Texas Sunday afternoon at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center. The Cavaliers fell behind in five of six singles matches and in two of three doubles matches, but overcame the adversity to improve to 18-0 on the season.

After nearly a two-hour rain delay, the match opened with singles play and the Longhorns came out strong, winning five of the six first sets. Texas took a 1-0 lead as Dimitar Kutrovsky defeated Dominic Inglot (London, England) 7-5, 6-4 at the No. 1 position. The Longhorn lead was extended to 2-0 as Ed Corrie topped Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) 6-3, 6-4 at No. 2 singles. Virginia cut the lead in half, 2-1, when Drew Courtney (Clifton, Va.) rallied from losing the first set for a 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 win over Josh Zavala at No. 6 singles. The Cavaliers drew even as Sanam Singh (Chandigarh, India) capped his own comeback, rallying for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Kellen Damico at No. 3 singles. The Cavaliers took a 3-2 lead with another come-from-behind victory, as Houston Barrick (Brentwood, Tenn.) topped Miguel Reyes Varela 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-3 at No. 4 singles. Texas drew even as Oliver Sajous rallied for a three-set win, 5-7, 7-6, 6-3, over Steven Eelkman Rooda (Amersfoort, The Netherlands) at No. 5 singles.

The dual match would come down to the doubles point. The Cavaliers took an early advantage as Shabaz and Inglot rallied from down a break for an 8-6 win over Kutrovsky and Zavala at No. 2 doubles. Texas drew even as Sajous and Reyes Varela topped Courtney and Lee Singer (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) 8-6 at No. 3 doubles. The match came down to the No. 1 doubles match, where Barrick and Singh were serving for the match at 7-6, but the Texas team of Corrie and Damico broke to draw even at 7-7. The Cavalier duo broke right back and served out the match for a 9-7 win that clinched the 4-3 dual match win. 

North Carolina Rallies Past Michigan
No. 37 North Carolina staged a furious rally in singles play to upset No. 32 Michigan 4-3 Sunday afternoon in an indoor match at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center. It marked the third time this season the Tar Heels have rallied for a victory after dropping the doubles point. UNC also did so in 4-3 victories over California on February 1 and Auburn on March 1.

It was the players at the top four spots in the Tar Heel lineup who persevered to pull out the victory for Coach Sam Paul's Tar Heels. Clay Donato, Taylor Fogleman, Andrew Crone and Brennan Boyajian pulled out victories to rally the Tar Heels at the 1, 2, 3, 4 spots.

The Wolverines claimed the doubles point as Michigan won the final two matches off the court to go up 1-0. After Carolina won at the No. 3 spot, the Michigan duo of Jason Jung and George Navas rallied from a 3-0 deficit to upset No. 27 Clay Donato and Taylor Fogleman 8-5. At No. 2 doubles, it took 70 minutes to decide the match but Michigan pulled out the doubles point by winning 9-8, taking the tiebreaker 7-2. 

Miami Sweeps UCF, 7-0
The No. 33 University of Miami men's tennis team put together a dominant performance on Sunday, sweeping No. 68 UCF, 7-0, in Orlando. The Hurricanes picked up their first road win of the season to improve to 6-5, while the Knights fell to 7-7.

Miami seniors Daniel Vallverdu and David Rosenfeld cruised to an 8-0 win at the No.1 position over UCF's Tarek Ben Soltane and Joe Delinks, 8-0, in their first match together. Also victorious in their debut together was Ignacio Taboada and Hector Nieto, who clinched the elusive doubles point for the Hurricanes with the 8-2 win at No. 3.

In singles play, the Hurricanes won in straight sets in the No. 2-6 positions. David Simon won his third-straight match - and the seventh in his last eight matches - with a 6-3, 7-6 win at No. 4 to improve to 8-3 in dual-match play, while No. 87 Carl Sundberg bounced back from his lone loss of the spring to take the 6-2, 6-2 win over Eugene Dolgovykh at No. 5 to move to a team-best 9-1 mark in the spring. 

Baylor sends Tech to 6-1 defeat
Virginia Tech saw a three-match winning streak come to an end Sunday evening with a 6-1 loss at No. 11 Baylor. The match was played at the Baylor Tennis Center on the Baylor University campus. The Bears improved to 11-4 on the year while the Hokies fell to 9-3. Tech's three losses this season have all been against top ten opponents.

After Tech won the doubles point, Baylor quickly took the lead as 8th-ranked Denes Lukacs handed No. 59 Yoann Re (Jr., Verdun, Quebec, Canada), his first loss of the year with a resounding 6-1, 6-0 victory at No. 1 and 90th-ranked Attila Bucko gave the Bears a 2-1 lead with his 6-4, 6-2, triumph at No. 5 over Sebastien Jacques (Magog, Quebec, Canada).

Baylor added to the lead as Dominik Mueller won at No. 4 versus Luka Somen (Fr., Karlovac, Croatia), 6-2, 6-4, and then clinched the victory with 30th-ranked Jordan Rux's 7-6, 6-3, win in the No. 2 contest over Nicolas Delgado de Robles (Sr., Madrid, Spain). The Bears completed the singles sweep as David Galic won a come-from-behind 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, decision at No. 3 against Pedro Graber (Santiago, Chile) and Maros Horny did the same with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-3, No. 6 win versus Brandon Corace (Sr., Naples, Fla.)