Men’s Tennis: Top-ranked Virginia suffers 4-3 loss against South Carolina

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The No. 1 Virginia men’s tennis team suffered a 4-3 loss against No. 5 South Carolina on Sunday on the indoor courts at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.

The Cavaliers (3-1) won the doubles point and held a 3-1 lead in the match before the Gamecocks (1-0) tallied three-straight wins in third sets to take the match.

The loss snapped a streak of 25-straight victories for the Cavaliers. It was their first loss since Feb. 11, 2023.

Virginia started strong with 6-1 victories on doubles courts one and two to take a 1-0 lead into singles play.

Senior Jeffrey von der Schulenburg sailed through a 6-2, 6-3 win on court three against Jelani Sarr to spot UVA to a 2-0 lead. It was the only court to be decided in straight sets.

South Carolina took court two to make it 2-1. Sophomore Måns Dahlberg gave UVA its third point with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 victory on court six.

On the top court, senior Chris Rodesch had won his first set 7-5 against Toby Samuel, but Samuel won the second two 6-3, 6-4 to put the match score at 3-2.

On court four, grad student  Edoardo Graziani rebounded after dropping his first set 6-4 against Lucas da Silva, taking the second 6-2, but da Silva won the third 6-3 to tie the match 3-3.

The match between Alexander Kiefer and Sean Daryabeigi on court five was knotted at 3-3 in the third set when the overall match was tied up. Kiefer lost a deuce point to get broken and go down 4-3, but he picked up a break to tie it at 5-5. Daryabeigi won a deuce point to break Kiefer and take a 6-5 lead. He won another deuce point on match point to clinch the victory.

FROM HEAD COACH ANDRES PEDROSO

“A sincere congrats to the South Carolina Gamecocks. They deserved that win in every sense of the word. It was an amazing college tennis match to be a part of, and I’m really proud of our guys for how they stayed together and fought together until the end. I’m most impressed with Alex Kiefer and what he has accomplished as a competitor in the last two matches. I’ll put my money on Alex any day, any time in a deciding match. Congrats again to South Carolina, and now it’s back to work for the Wahoos.”

NOTES

• This was the Cavaliers’ second match against a top-five opponent this week after topping No. 3 Texas 4-3 on Thursday in Austin
• Kiefer’s match was also the deciding match on Thursday against Texas
• Rodesch’s opponent, Toby Samuel, is currently unranked but spent the entire 2023 regular season ranked inside the ITA Singles top 11, peaking at No.3 and ending the year ranked No. 10

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers host ITA Kickoff Weekend matches on Saturday and Sunday. FAU, Penn, and Northern Arizona will compete in the Charlottesville Regional with one team advancing to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships. Virginia opens play against Northern Arizona on Saturday at noon. Sunday’s championship match will take place at 1 p.m.

SOUTH CAROLINA 4, VIRGINIA 3

Singles
1. Toby Samuel (SC) def. #22 Chris Rodesch (VA) 5-7, 6-3, 6-4
2. #92 Casey Hoole (SC) def. Dylan Dietrich (VA) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
3. #26 Jeffrey von der Schulenburg (VA) def. Jelani Sarr (SC) 6-2, 6-3
4. Lucas da Silva (SC) def. Edoardo Graziani (VA) 6-4, 2-6, 6-3
5. Sean Daryabeigi (SC) def. Alexander Kiefer (VA) 6-3, 4-6, 7-5
6. Måns Dahlberg (VA) def. Carter Morgan (SC) 6-1, 4-6, 6-2

Doubles
1. James Hopper/Edoardo Graziani (VA) def. Casey Hoole/James Story (SC) 6-1
2. Chris Rodesch/Jeffrey von der Schulenburg (VA) def. Jelani Sarr/Lucas da Silva (SC) 6-1
3. Alexander Kiefer/Dylan Dietrich (VA) vs. Toby Samuel/Sean Daryabeigi (SC) 4-4, unfinished
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (3,2,6,1,4,5)