Men’s Tennis: Hoos claim third-straight ACC Championship with 4-1 win over Duke

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The Virginia men’s tennis team defeated Duke by a 4-1 score to win the 2023 ACC Men’s Tennis Championship being held at Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C.

The championship was Virginia’s third consecutive title and the 15th in the program’s history. Head coach Andres Pedroso led his team to the title for the third time in his six seasons as head coach.

Grad student Ryan Goetz won the clinching point. Junior Chris Rodesch was named the tournament MVP.

“Credit to Duke for a great college tennis match,” Pedroso said. “That program is playing some really good tennis and competing really hard. They’ll be a dangerous team at the NCAA tournament. So credit to that team credit to their coaches. They’re doing a great job. Our team battled hard. We knew there were going to be some ups and downs. We knew there were going to be some momentum swings and we just hung in there and stayed composed and believed in ourselves. So really proud of these guys for the effort all weekend. These championships are really special. And we’re going to take a lot of confidence from this weekend into the NCAA tournament.”

Goetz and Alex Kiefer got the Cavaliers off to a strong start with a 6-3 win on doubles court three. Chris Rodesch and Jeffrey von der Schulenburg clinched the point with a 6-4 win on court two.

In singles, the Cavaliers (24-4) won four first sets, but Duke (20-6) managed to split sets on courts one, three and five to force third sets. Måns Dahlberg rebounded from a 6-4 loss in his first set to take his second 6-3 on court six to force a third set against Jake Krug.

Von der Schulenburg put the Cavaliers up 2-0 with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Andrew Zhang on court three, but the Blue Devils countered with a straight-set win on court two to make it 2-1.

Dahlberg went down 2-0 in his third set against Jake Krug, but rallied to win 6-3 and put UVA ahead 3-1.

Goetz had dropped his second set in a tiebreaker, falling 7-3 against Connor Krug, but won the third set 6-2 to clinch the victory.

Virginia was the top seed in the tournament, and the Blue Devils were the 2-seed. UVA is ranked No. 8 in the ITA team rankings while Duke is No. 12.

Virginia has won 38 straight matches in ACC play, going 12-0 each of the last three seasons, and 47 straight matches against ACC opponents that includes tournament play and other matches that did not count towards the conference standings. Virginia has not lost a conference match since a pre-pandemic contest against Louisville on January 18, 2020. Virginia’s last loss against an ACC opponent was a 4-2 loss to North Carolina at ITA Indoors on Feb. 13, 2021.

The Cavaliers head into the ACC tournament on a 16-match win streak. The NCAA Selection Show will stream online on NCAA.com on Monday, May 1 at 6:30 p.m.

NO. 8 VIRGINIA 4, NO. 12 DUKE 1
Singles
1. #10 Chris Rodesch (VA) vs. #13 Garrett Johns (DU) 6-3, 6-7 (2-7), 3-2, unfinished
2. #72 Pedro Rodenas (DU) def. #21 Iñaki Montes (VA) 6-3, 6-3
3. #43 Jeffrey von der Schulenburg (VA) def. Andrew Zhang (DU) 6-4, 6-2
4. #83 Ryan Goetz (VA) def. Connor Krug (DU) 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 6-2
5. Alexander Kiefer (VA) vs. Andrew Dale (DU) 6-4, 3-6, 5-2, unfinished
6. Måns Dahlberg (VA) def. Jake Krug (DU) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3

Doubles
1. William Woodall/Iñaki Montes (VA) vs. #21 Garrett Johns/Pedro Rodenas (DU) 5-4, unfinished
2. Chris Rodesch/Jeffrey von der Schulenburg (VA) def. Connor Krug/Teddy Truwit (DU) 6-4
3. Ryan Goetz/Alexander Kiefer (VA) def. Faris Khan/Niroop Vallabhaneni (DU) 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (3,2,6,4)

WAHOOWA!!! Our third straight ACC 🏆🏆🏆 and the 15th overall in program history #GoHoos⚔️ pic.twitter.com/HUNRkM340f

— Virginia Men’s Tennis (@UVAMensTennis) April 23, 2023