Men’s Tennis: No. 7 Virginia falls 4-2 against No. 5 Florida

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Posted on Saturday, Feb. 19, 2022, 9:42 pm

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Courtesy UVA Media Relations

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The No. 7 Virginia men’s tennis team (5-5) suffered a 4-2 loss against No. 5 Florida (6-2) in a consolation match at the 2022 ITA Division I Men’s National Team Indoor Championship at the Nordstrom Tennis Center in Seattle, Washington.

Florida won the doubles point with wins on the top two courts to take a 1-0 lead.

Senior Gianni Ross tied the match 1-1 with a dominant 6-0, 6-2 win against Lukas Greif on court six. The Gators took a 3-1 lead with a win on the top court. Sophomore Jeffrey von der Schulenburg made it 3-2 with a 6-3, 6-4 win against Duarte Vale on court three.

Sophomore Chris Rodesch dropped his first set 6-2 against No. 3 Ben Shelton and then rebounded with a 6-4 win in the second set to force a third set. Rodesch staved off one deuce match point when down 5-4 in the third set, but Shelton came back to win the next two games and take the set 7-5 and the match for the Gators.

Goetz was up 7-6 (3), 3-6, 4-1 in the third set against Josh Goodger on court five when play was abandoned.

Virginia will play either Georgia or Washington in its final consolation match on Sunday at either 6:30 or 9:30 pm ET.

MATCH NOTES

  • This is the fourth straight match for the Cavaliers against a top-five-ranked team
  • Florida is the No. 4 seed in the tournament; Virginia is the No. 12 seed
  • Florida was the preseason No. 1 team after winning the 2021 NCAA Championship
  • Sam Riffice, Florida’s No. 1 singles player, is the reigning NCAA singles champion

#5 Florida Gators 4, #7 Virginia 2

Singles competition

  1. #92 Sam Riffice (UF) def. #30 Inaki Montes (VA) 6-3, 6-2
  2. #3 Ben Shelton (UF) def. #17 Chris Rodesch (VA) 6-2, 4-6, 7-5
  3. #82 J vd Schulenburg (VA) def. Duarte Vale (UF) 6-3, 6-4
  4. Andy Andrade (UF) def. #120 Bar Botzer (VA) 6-3, 6-2
  5. Josh Goodger (UF) vs. #29 Ryan Goetz (VA) 6-7 (7-9), 6-3, 1-4, unfinished
  6. Gianni Ross (VA) def. Lukas Greif (UF) 6-0, 6-2

Doubles competition

  1. Sam Riffice/Ben Shelton (UF) def. Chris Rodesch/Bar Botzer (VA) 6-3
  2. #44 Andy Andrade/Mattias Siimar (UF) def. Inaki Montes/J vd Schulenburg (VA) 6-2
  3. Ryan Goetz/William Woodall (VA) def. Duarte Vale/Abedallah Shelbayh (UF) 6-3

Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (6,4,1,3,2)

ITA National Team Indoors Consolation

T-2:50