Men’s Tennis: Virginia tops Louisville 4-0 to advance to ACC final

Courtesy UVA Athletics

Top-seeded Virginia (21-5, 12-0 ACC) defeated four-seed Louisville (19-8, 9-3 ACC) 4-0 in the semifinals of the 2022 ACC Men’s Tennis Championship on Saturday at the Rome Tennis Center in Rome, Ga.

Virginia will face third-seeded North Carolina (16-7, 9-3 ACC) on Sunday at 10 a.m. in the championship match.

Grad student Bar Botzer and sophomore Chris Rodesch opened the match with a 6-3 win on doubles court two. The other two courts were closer battles with court three going to a tiebreaker just as sophomore Iñaki Montes and senior Ryan Goetz pulled out a 7-5 victory on court one.

In singles, Rodesch raced to a 6-2, 6-2 victory against Etienne Donnet on court one to put the Cavaliers up 2-0 before two of the singles courts had finished their first sets. Senior Gianni Ross made it 3-0 with a 6-1, 6-3 win on court six. Goetz won the clincher, defeating Natan Rodrigues 6-4, 6-3 on court four to clinch the match.

MATCH NOTES

• Virginia is ranked No. 6 in the latest ITA team rankings. Louisville is No. 23. North Carolina is No. 17
• Virginia brings a 16-match win streak into the championship. Its last loss was on Feb. 19 during ITA Indoors

UVA & THE ACC CHAMPIONSHIP

• The Cavaliers are the reigning ACC Champions having won last year’s title with a 4-3 victory against North Carolina
• UVA has won 13 ACC Championships (2004-05, 2007-15, 2017, 2021)
• This is the third time the ACC Championship has been held at the Rome Tennis Center. Virginia the title both of the previous times it was there (2017 and 2021)
• The Cavaliers went 12-0 in the ACC, their 11th time not dropping a conference dual
• The Cavaliers were the ACC regular-season champions for the 15th time

HOW TO FOLLOW

• Sunday’s final will stream online through ACC Network Extra
• Live scores will be available for all matches of the tournament

#6 Virginia 4, #23 Louisville 0

Singles competition

1. #23 Chris Rodesch (VA) def. #101 Etienne Donnet (LOU-MT) 6-2, 6-2
2. Inaki Montes (VA) vs. Josh Howard-Tripp (LOU-MT) 7-6 (1), 4-1, unfinished
3. #25 J vd Schulenburg (VA) vs. Sergio Hernandez (LOU-MT) 6-2, 2-6, 2-2, unfinished
4. #85 Ryan Goetz (VA) def. Natan Rodrigues (LOU-MT) 6-4, 6-3
5. Bar Botzer (VA) vs. David Mizrahi (LOU-MT) 7-6 (8), 2-3, unfinished
6. Gianni Ross (VA) def. Matthew Fung (LOU-MT) 6-1, 6-3

Doubles competition

1. Inaki Montes/Ryan Goetz (VA) def. Etienne Donnet/David Mizrahi (LOU-MT) 7-5
2. #52 Chris Rodesch/Bar Botzer (VA) def. Sergio Hernandez/Natan Rodrigues (LOU-MT) 6-3
3. Gianni Ross/Alexander Kiefer (VA) vs. Alex Wesbrooks/Matthew Fung (LOU-MT) 6-6 (1-0), unfinished

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