May 18, 2008

Virginia Tops Baylor 4-2 to Reach NCAA Semifinals

TULSA, Okla. - Top-seeded Virginia advanced to the NCAA Semifinals for the second consecutive year with a 4-2 win over No. 9 Baylor in a quarterfinal match Sunday at the Michael D. Case Tennis Center. The Cavaliers will meet No. 4 Georgia Monday at 5 p.m. CT for a berth Tuesday's championship match.

The Cavaliers (32-0) took the early 1-0 lead by winning the doubles point. Houston Barrick (Brentwood, Tenn.) and Sanam Singh (Chandigarh, India) improved to 4-0 at No. 3 doubles in the tournament with an 8-3 win over Dominik Mueller and Jordan Rux. Somdev Devvarman (Chennai, India) and Treat Huey (Alexandria, Va.) secured the opening point for the Cavaliers with an 8-6 win at No. 1 doubles over David Galic and Denes Lukacs. The win was the duo's 36th victory of the season, tying the school record set by Devvarman and Huey last season.

Virginia extended the lead to 2-0 as Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) won his eighth consecutive match, topping Attila Bucko 6-2, 6-4 at No. 5 singles. Baylor (25-9) cut the lead in half as Mueller defeated Singh 6-3, 6-4 at the No. 4 position.

Devvarman pushed the Cavalier lead to 3-1 as he dismantled Lars Poerschke, ranked No. 8 nationally, 6-3, 6-2 at the No. 1 position.

After Lukacs cut the lead to 3-2 with his 6-4, 7-6 (5) win over Huey at No. 2 singles, the match came down to matches at No. 3 and No. 6, both of which went to the third set. At No. 3 singles Dominic Inglot (London, England) rallied from losing the first set against Galic in a tiebreaker to win the second set 6-3. In the final set, both players held serve easily in the first seven games as Inglot took a 4-3 lead. The Cavalier had a pair of break points as Galic served at 3-4 but he was able to hold serve and even the set at 4-4. Inglot again took a 15-40 lead on Galic's serve at 5-6 to have double-match point. On his first match point, Galic's second serve hit the net and landed wide to give Inglot and the Cavaliers the win.

Virginia will play Georgia in the semifinals for the second consecutive season. Last year, the top-seeded Bulldogs downed Virginia 4-1 in Athens as they went on to win the NCAA Championship. It will mark the third consecutive season that the teams have met in the NCAA Tournament with the Cavaliers looking for their first ever win against the Bulldogs (0-13 all-time).