By Jerry Ratcliffe
When Andres Pedroso first arrived at Virginia as an assistant coach in 2010, he could hardly believe what he was seeing.
“I remember after the first or second dual match, going up to Brian [Boland] and saying, ‘Geesh, I just came from the United States Tennis Association and going to all the national and international events, and I never saw kids compete like they do in the orange and blue,’” Pedroso said. His comment was to Boland, who had built UVA into a national tennis power all the way through his departure in 2017, after guiding the Cavaliers to four national championships over a five-year span, including three in a row.
“I was like, Brian, these guys scrap and claw and they leave blood on the court. It’s just another level of competitiveness,” Pedroso went on to tell his boss. “I think that’s a staple of UVA tennis, is the way they compete.”
Some things never change.
While the No. 5 Cavaliers eliminated No. 17 South Carolina with a 4-1 victory in the second round of the NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship on Saturday afternoon at Snyder Tennis Center, it was a much closer match than the score indicated.
Virginia led 2-1, having captured the doubles point and the first singles point when Aswin Lizen defeated Patrick Cacciatore, 6-3, 6-3, at No. 6. South Carolina’s point came at No. 5 where Thomas Brown topped UVA’s Ryan Goetz, 6-3, 6-3.
Things began to heat up with Henrik Wiersholm losing his first set and trailing USC’s Raphael Lambling in the second at No. 3. Meanwhile, after winning his first set, 6-4, UVA’s Gianni Ross trailed in the second. Also, No. 2 Brandon Nakashima, who won his first set, 6-3, was in a battle in the second set, and No. 1 Carl Söderlund was forced into a third set.
Nakashima finished strong to take his second set, 6-4, over South Carolina’s Daniel Rodrigues and gave Virginia a 3-1 lead as Söderlund and Wiersholm continued to battle.
The comeback of the day, which best exemplified what Pedroso had intimated to Boland nine years ago, was Ross at No. 4. He was down 4-2 in the second set, a set Virginia couldn’t afford to lose. Ross fought and clawed his way back and not only squared the match, but came back and won, 6-4, to clinch the team victory.
Ross’ win propelled the 23-4 Cavaliers into the NCAA Round of 16 for the 15th time in program history, and kept them undefeated (30-0) in NCAA Tournament matches played in Charlottesville.
“We were closing at No. 3 and [Lambling] didn’t shut the door (on Wiersholm),” said Gamecocks coach Josh Goffi. “He was waiting for (Wiersholm) to give it to him. At No. 2, we had a couple of moments where Nakashima second-guessed himself a little bit as everybody does in this sport, and we just didn’t take advantage of it. When we had a chance to move that match forward, we didn’t.”
Nakashima, ranked No. 82 in the NCAA, had just enough to power by Rodrigues, ranked No. 83. The second set was 4-all until Nakashima broke Rodrigues to go up 5-4. The Gamecock fought off the first of two match points before Virginia’s freshman won the ensuing deuce point to close out the win, 6-4.
“Brandon won some clutch deuce points and some long points,” Pedroso said. “[Rodrigues] played really well and Brandon just came up with a little bit better shots, a little more depth, and he served huge at important moments, too. That’s why he is No. 4 in the world in juniors and is one of the best recruits to ever come to college. This is not surprising from him. He’s a killer.”
Ross’ comeback over Yancy Dennis was simply mindblowing. Trailing 4-2 in the second set and having lost the momentum, Ross managed to rally and knot it at 4-4. With the Gamecocks’ Dennis serving a deuce point at 4-4, Ross broke, then held serve to close out the match and clinch the victory for the Wahoos.
“Gianni has stolen some matches this year,” Pedroso beamed. “Against NC State in early March, he was down a set and 5-1, like seven match points. Gianni has done that all year long. Any time I look at the scoreboard at Court 4, and he’s down a little bit, I’m like, alright, that match still has a way to go because Gianni is the comeback king this year.”
Ross said he’s well-versed in what to do when he’s behind.
“We talk about resetting a lot,” the Cavalier said. “When we get broken at any time in the set, you have to immediately take your mind off it and go to the next point. Every point is a new one and none count more than the other. I had to find a stable, emotional and mental state as quickly as possible. I didn’t have a game plan, it was get down to this base and start working [Dennis].”
Ross said that he overcame some yips with his serve in the middle of the second set and gained confidence when there were shots he could hit that were going to be winners for him and tried to find them as often as he could.
“[Dennis] missed on some crucial points on 4-all deuce point, and had a forehand in the middle of the court and he just missed it. It could have gone either way. Honestly, he is a very good player, but I just stayed with it. I was gritty and I just trusted my guns, especially when I was down.”
Wiersholm and Nakashima (the No. 33 ranked doubles team in the country) defeated No. 52 Rodrigues and Lambling, 6-2, in the No. 1 doubles match, while Ross and William Woodall teamed to defeat South Carolina’s Beau Pelletier and Jake Beasley, 6-3, to win the point. Soderlund and Lizen trailed Paul Jubb and Dennis, 4-5, in the other doubles match, which was unfinished.
“Virginia was the highest seed and had a lot of pressure on its back coming in with the first team out of hosting coming out of their house … that’s not a fun spot to be in,” SC’s Goffi said. “We recognized that and tried to apply all the pressure we could. Andres and his staff prepared their guys pretty darned well for that.”
Goff said the Gamecocks (now 18-10) came into the match hungry to score an upset over the Cavaliers.
“We’re not happy losing in the second round,” Goffi said. “That’s not the standard of the program. We want to get into the Sweet 16 and Final 8 category real fast. We had the team to do it. Unfortunately we faced a really tough team at their home and we didn’t play aggressive enough in my opinion in the big moments and that cost us right on that turning point, and then the match went the other way.”
Pedroso said that’s college tennis today, especially with the deuce point format. It can go either way, and everyone’s a point away. He told his team that every match for the rest of the tournament is going to be like this and that they had to recognize that walking onto the court.
“This is going to be a war,” Pedroso said of the remainder of the tournament.
Virginia will now host a Super Regional match next Saturday against either No. 12 Stanford or UCSB. Day and time will be announced later. All eight Super Regional winners will advance to the finals site at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla., with the quarterfinals through the championship matches set for May 16-19.
“It’s great to be tested in the first two rounds, with some chink in your armor, and just knowing you got through it,” Pedroso said. “I think that gives confidence to the guys. They know now it’s not always going to be pretty, but if we hang in there mentally, I think this team can beat the best.”
