No. 7 Virginia edged 4-3 by Illinois

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The No. 7 Virginia men’s tennis team (6-2) fell 4-3 to Illinois (3-1) in a back draw match at the 46th annual ITA Division I National Men’s Team Indoor Championship Presented by Oracle on Sunday (Feb. 14) at the Atkins Tennis Center in Champaign, Ill..

Virginia won the doubles point and took the first two singles matches before the Illini won on the final four courts.

Grad student Carl Söderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) and junior William Woodall (Washington, D.C.) cruised to a 6-1 win on the top doubles court. The freshman duo of Iñaki Montes (Pamplona, Spain) and Jeffrey von der Schulenburg (Zurich, Switzerland) secured the point with a 6-2 win on court three.

In singles, freshman Chris Rodesch (Angelsberg, Luxembourg) extended the Cavalier lead with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Lucas Horve on court five. Söderlund won a three-set showdown with No. 15 Alex Brown to give UVA a 3-0 lead.

The Cavaliers and Illini battled in close matches on the other four courts. Both von der Schulenburg and senior Gianni Ross (Chicago, Ill.) were edged in tiebreakers to decide their first sets. Junior Ryan Goetz (Greenlawn, N.Y.) was edged 7-5 in his first set and then fell in a tiebreaker in his second set. Montes lost a deuce point for match point in his 7-5 third set against Siphosothando Montsi on court two.

Illinois 4, #7 Virginia 3

Singles competition

1. #29 Carl Soderlund (VA) def. #15 Alex Brown (ILL) 6-3, 3-6, 6-2
2. #82 Siphosothando Montsi (ILL) def. Inaki Montes (VA) 3-6, 6-4, 7-5
3. #112 Zeke Clark (ILL) def. #106 J vd Schulenburg (VA) 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-3
4. Hunter Heck (ILL) def. Ryan Goetz (VA) 7-5, 7-6 (5)
5. Chris Rodesch (VA) def. Lucas Horve (ILL) 7-5, 6-3
6. Alex Bancila (ILL) def. Gianni Ross (VA) 7-6 (5), 6-1

Doubles competition

1. Carl Soderlund/William Woodall (VA) def. Siphosothando Montsi/Lucas Horve (ILL) 6-1
2. Alex Brown/Hunter Heck (ILL) vs. Ryan Goetz/Chris Rodesch (VA) 4-5, unfinished
3. Inaki Montes/J vd Schulenburg (VA) def. Lucas Horve/Vuk Budic (ILL) 6-2

Order of finish: Doubles (1,3); Singles (5,1,6,4,2,3)
ITA Indoors Consolation Match
T-3:00