No. 3 Virginia wins 5-2 against Georgia Tech

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The No. 3 Virginia men’s tennis team (12-2, 6-0 ACC) picked up a 5-2 victory against Georgia Tech (8-6, 2-4 ACC) on Friday at the Virginia Tennis Facility at the Boar’s Head Resort in Charlottesville.

The Cavaliers won a tight doubles point and then won on four singles courts to go ahead 5-0. Georgia Tech won a pair of tiebreakers on the final two courts to earn two points.

In doubles, the teams split 6-4 decisions on courts one and two. On court three, freshmen Iñaki Montes (Pamplona, Spain) and Jeffrey von der Schulenburg (Zurich, Switzerland) picked up a late break to win 7-5 and clinch the point for the Cavaliers.

In singles, freshman Alexander Kiefer (The Woodlands, Texas) flew through a 6-1, 6-2 victory against Chen Dong on court six, finishing moments after the first set on court one was completed. Von der Schulenburg gave UVA a 2-0 lead when he finished a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Georgia Tech’s lone ranked player, No. 59 Andres Martin. Senior Gianni Ross (Chicago, Ill.) clinched the victory with a 7-5, 6-2 victory on court five.

Montes had won his first set on court four, 6-3, but dropped the second by that same score. After Ross clinched the match, he played a super tiebreaker against Keshav Chopra to decide their match, which Montes won 10-8 to put UVA up 5-0.

The other two remaining courts were extremely close battles. On the top court, grad student Carl Söderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) won his first set in a tiebreaker, but dropped his second, 6-4. Marcus McDaniel won the third-set super tiebreaker, 10-7, to take the match.

On court three, freshman Chris Rodesch (Angelsberg, Luxembourg) played tiebreakers to decide both his first and second sets against Pablo Schelcher. After losing the first-set tiebreaker, 7-3, he battled through extra points in the second set-tiebreaker, trying to force a third-set super tiebreaker, before ultimately succumbing 10-8.

“It was a hard fought battle against the Yellow Jackets,” UVA coach Andres Pedroso said. “They pushed us in doubles, pushed us in singles and competed really well. Credit to them. It was a really good battle but our guys found a way. It was a  really close match.

“Alex Kieffer and Gianni Ross down at five and six came out and proved to be dominant down there, so I was really proud of them. In doubles, Chris and Ryan have a little bit of a tough run recently and they came up with a W. They played their best doubles in a couple of weeks so I was proud of that.”

#3 Virginia 5, #45 Georgia Tech 2

Singles competition

1. Marcus McDaniel (GT) def. #29 Carl Soderlund (VA) 6-7 (3), 6-4, 1-0 (7)
2. #106 J vd Schulenburg (VA) def. #59 Andres Martin (GT) 6-4, 6-2
3. Pablo Schelcher (GT) def. Chris Rodesch (VA) 7-6 (3), 7-6 (8)
4. Inaki Montes (VA) def. Keshav Chopra (GT) 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (8)
5. Gianni Ross (VA) def. Brandon McKinney (GT) 7-5, 6-2
6. Alexander Kiefer (VA) def. Chen Dong (GT) 6-1, 6-2

Doubles competition

1. Marcus McDaniel/Andres Martin (GT) def. Carl Soderlund/William Woodall (VA) 6-4
2. Ryan Goetz/Chris Rodesch (VA) def. Pablo Schelcher/Brandon Freestone (GT) 6-4
3. J vd Schulenburg/Inaki Montes (VA) def. Brandon McKinney/Zummy Bauer (GT) 7-5

Order of finish: Doubles (1,2,3); Singles (6,2,5,4,3,1)
T-2:50 A-46