No. 5 Virginia falls 4-2 to No. 12 USC in NCAA Round of 16

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The No. 5 Virginia men’s tennis team had its season end in the Round of 16 of the 2021 NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship with a 4-2 loss against No. 12 USC on Monday at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.

USC (23-6) won the doubles point and picked up wins on singles courts two, three and five. Freshman Iñaki Montes (Pamplona, Spain) and senior Gianni Ross (Chicago, Ill.) earned the points for the Cavaliers.

The Trojans held an early edge in doubles, picking up a 6-4 win on court one. Courts two and three were tight matches with court two going to a tiebreaker with USC coming out ahead 7-5 to take the point. Court three was abandoned at 6-5 on-serve.

USC won four first sets in singles, but both freshman Chris Rodesch (Angelsburg, Luxembourg) and grad student Carl Söderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) won their second sets to force thirds.

USC took a 2-0 lead with a straight-set win on court two. UVA (23-3) rallied with back-to-back wins on courts six and four to tie the match. Ross was the first to put points on the board, topping Jake Sands 6-4, 7-5 on court six. Montes followed minutes later with his 7-6 (4), 6-2 win against Bradley Frye.

On court five, Lodewijk Weststrate picked up a 6-3, 7-5 victory against Ryan Goetz on to put the Trojans on the brink. Stefan Dostanic won the clincher against Rodesch on court three 6-3, 5-7, 6-2.

Söderlund was up a break in his third set against Daniel Cukierman when play was suspended.