May 25, 2009

Inglot and Shabaz Win NCAA Doubles Championship

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Dominic Inglot (London, England) and Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) became the first doubles team from the ACC to win the NCAA Doubles Championship, defeating No. 2 seed John-Patrick Smith and Davey Sandgren of Tennessee 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 in the final Monday at the Mitchell Tennis Center.

Inglot and Shabaz are the first unseeded team to win the title since Rajeev Ram and Brian Wilson of Illinois in 2003. Ranked No. 12 entering the tournament, the Cavalier duo is the lowest ranked team to take the title since Auburn’s Andrew Colombo and Mark Kovacs, ranked No. 27, won the championship in 2002, also in College Station.

In the first set, the Tennessee team jumped out to an early lead. After Sandgren held in the first game, the Volunteers rallied from a 40-0 hole to break Inglot’s serve to take a 2-0 lead. That proved to be the only time the Cavalier team was broken all day. The Virginia team had three break points on Sandgren’s serve when the Vol was serving for the first set at 5-3, but couldn’t take advantage and Tennessee held to win the opening set.

Just like in their first round match against the top seeded team from Ole Miss and their semifinal win over North Carolina, Inglot and Shabaz looked to rally after losing the first set. The second set featured strong serving from both sides as neither team faced a break point and just one game went to deuce. The set went to a tiebreaker with the Volunteers looking for a title and the Cavaliers looking for a decisive third set. The UVa team went up a mini-break a 2-1 when Smith’s volley went into the net. That was all the Cavalier duo needed as they won all the points on their serve and won set point off of Sandgren’s to take the tiebreaker 7-4.

Inglot and Shabaz took the momentum of the tiebreaker to take an early lead in the third set. With Sandgren serving at 1-1, the Cavalier team got three break points at 0-40. The Volunteers rebounded to win the next three points to get back to deuce, but the Cavaliers followed by winning the next two for their only break of the match and a 2-1 lead. The teams held serve over the next eight games to put the match on Shabaz’s racquet at 5-4. In the final game, he hit two aces and two service winners to hold at love and clinch the championship.

The title was the first doubles championship for the ACC. Inglot and Shabaz were the first ACC team to reach the final since the start of the modern NCAA Individual Championships in 1978.

With the title, Virginia has won an NCAA Individual Championship for the third consecutive year. Former Cavalier Somdev Devvarman won the 2007 and 2008 NCAA Singles Championships. The last school to win NCAA Individual titles in three consecutive years was Stanford from 1998-2000.