Virginia Cavaliers men's tennis — Photo courtesy of Virginia Athletics Communications

No. 18 UVA Men's Tennis Sweeps Duke in ACC Opener

The Cavaliers defeated the Blue Devils 4-0 in Durham

Author:
Matt Newton
Publish date:
Mar 5, 2022 2:53 AM EST

Both the Virginia men's and women's tennis teams played against Duke on Friday at the Ambler Tennis Center in Durham, North Carolina. The Cavaliers and Blue Devils split the pair of matches, with the No. 18 UVA men's team sweeping Duke 4-0 and the No. 12 Virginia women's team falling to No. 9 Duke 4-3.

Men's Tennis: Virginia 4, Duke 0

Virginia's Gianni Ross and William Woodall won their doubles match 6-2 and then Inaki Montes and Jeffrey von der Schulenburg won 6-4 to win the doubles point for the Cavaliers.

Ryan Goetz defeated Duke's Edu Guell 6-3, 6-1 to make it 2-0 in favor of UVA. Gianni Ross won his match 6-4, 6-2 and then Inaki Montes defeated Garrett Johns 6-3, 6-3 to clinch the 4-0 sweep for Virginia.

Montes' straight-set victory concluded the match, so the other three matches, featuring UVA's Chris Rodesch, Jeffrey von der Schulenburg, and Jackson Allen, were suspended and unfinished.

With the win, Virginia improves to 7-5 and 1-0 in ACC play. The Cavaliers play at No. 27 North Carolina on Sunday at 11am.

Women's Tennis: Virginia 3, Duke 4

This matchup between top-12 opponents was a competitive battle from start to finish. Emma Navarro and Hibah Shaikh won their doubles match without dropping a game, but Duke answered back as Ellie Coleman and Eliza Omirou defeated Natasha Subhash and Sara Ziodato 6-4. UVA managed to capture the doubles point as Sofia Munera and Amber O'Dell defeated Chloe Beck and Margaryta Bilokin 6-4 to give Virginia a 1-0 lead in the match heading into singles competition.

Duke quickly tied things up at 1-1 as No. 11 Chloe Beck defeated No. 15 Natasha Subhash in a near-flawless 6-0, 6-1 victory for the Blue Devils.

Hibah Shaikh got a point back for the Cavaliers, defeating Ellie Coleman 6-1, 6-2 on court 6. No. 28 Emma Navarro defeated No. 19 Georgia Drummy 6-2, 6-4 to give UVA a 3-1 lead. The Hoos needed to win just one of the three singles matches still in play in order to clinch the victory.

Duke's Kelly Chen defeated Sofia Munera 6-3, 6-3 and Margaryta Bilokin took down Sara Ziodato 6-1, 6-3 to even the match at 3-3. Finally, in the only singles match that went to three sets, No. 53 Emma Jackson outlasted Amber O'Dell to win 6-1, 2-6, 6-1 and complete the comeback 4-3 victory for Duke.

Virginia falls to 10-2 and 2-1 in ACC play. The Cavaliers play at No. 1 North Carolina (14-0, 3-0 ACC) on Sunday at 2pm in a rematch of the quarterfinals of the ITA National Team Indoor Championships from less than a month ago, which ended in a 4-1 victory for the Tar Heels, who went on to win the ITA Indoors title.

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