Men’s Tennis: UVA hands No. 1 Wake its first loss of season in ACC semis, 4-3

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The No. 6 Virginia men’s tennis team handed No. 1 Wake Forest its first loss of the season, rallying to top the Demon Deacons, 4-3, in the semifinals of the 2025 ACC Men’s Tennis Championship on Saturday at the Cary Tennis Park.

Junior Mans Dahlberg clinched the victory for the Cavaliers (20-6) on court six, coming from behind in the third set to send Virginia to its sixth straight ACC Championship match.

With the win, the 5-seed Cavaliers will face the 3-seed Stanford (21-5) in the final on Sunday at 2 p.m. Sunday’s final will air on ACCNX.

Wake Forest won the doubles point to take an early 1-0 lead over Virginia, winning on doubles courts one and two.

The Demon Deacons (34-1) extended their lead to 2-0 with a straight set win on court four.

Freshman Jangjun Kim got the Cavaliers on the board, picking up a 6-2, 7-5 win over Luca Pow on court five.

Courts one and three ended within just seconds of each other. Freshman Rafael Jódar rallied to take his match 6-3, 7-6 (4) over No. 13 Stefan Dostanic on the top singles court to even the match.

Freshman Keegan Rice followed right after with a straight set win over No. 121 Ioannis Xilas on court three. Rice trailed 5-3 in the second but came back to take his match 6-0, 7-6 (6), pulling the Cavaliers ahead 3-2.

The match came down to courts two and six. On court two, sophomore Dylan Dietrich split two narrow sets with No. 10 DK Suresh Ekambaram. In the decider, Suresh got the early break and pulled away from Dietrich, winning 5-7, 7-6 (2), 6-3 to tie the match.

On court six, Dahlberg also split sets, taking the first set 6-2 against Luciano Tacchi before dropping the second 7-5. In the third, Tacchi got the early break, but Dahlberg broke to tie the third set at 4-4. Dahlberg held serve in the next game before breaking Tacchi’s serve to take the match, clinching the victory with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 win.

GOT. IT. DONE. 🗣️ @UVAMensTennis pic.twitter.com/zQ6EsDQzbZ

— The ACC (@theACC) April 19, 2025

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• The Cavaliers defeated their second top-ranked opponent this season
• This was the second meeting of the season between Virginia and Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons won the first matchup in the regular season, 4-1
• Virginia won after losing the doubles point for the ninth time this season
• Jódar picked up his 17th straight singles win (in a completed match), improving to 17-1 on the season
• Mans Dahlberg recorded his eighth straight singles win
• The Cavaliers are looking for their 16th overall ACC title. UVA won three straight most recently from 2021-23
• Virginia topped Stanford 4-1 in the regular season in Charlottesville on March 23. The Cavaliers lead the all-time series 8-0

FROM HEAD COACH ANDRES PEDROSO

“Heck of an effort by our team after losing the doubles point, but that’s something we’ve done all year, Just fighting and playing every single point and just taking pride in how we compete. And that’s how we got the W today. It could have gone either way. Just really proud of our guys.”

VIRGINIA 4, WAKE FOREST 3

Singles
1. #6 Rafael Jódar (VA) def. #13 Stefan Dostanic (WF) 6-3, 7-6 (7-4)
2. #10 DK Suresh Ekambaram (WF) def. #26 Dylan Dietrich (VA) 5-7, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3
3. Keegan Rice (VA) def. #121 Ioannis Xilas (WF) 6-0, 7-6 (8-6)
4. Charlie Robertson (WF) def. James Hopper (VA) 6-1, 6-2
5. Jangjun Kim (VA) def. Luca Pow (WF) 6-2, 7-5
6. Mans Dahlberg (VA) def. Luciano Tacchi (WF) 6-2, 5-7, 6-4

Doubles
1. #58 DK Suresh Ekambaram/Luca Pow (WF) def. #30 Dylan Dietrich/Mans Dahlberg (VA) 6-3
2. #77 Stefan Dostanic/Charlie Robertson (WF) def. #23 James Hopper/Keegan Rice (VA) 6-4
3. Luciano Tacchi/Ioannis Xilas (WF) vs. Rafael Jódar/Roy Horovitz (VA) 4-5, unfinished
Order of finish: Doubles (1,2); Singles (4,5,1,3,2,6)