Cavaliers Now

Shorthanded Virginia Men's Tennis Falls to Wake Forest in NCAA Quarterfinals

Matt Newton

Inaki Montes reacts after winning a point during the Virginia men's tennis match against Wake Forest in the NCAA semifinals.
Inaki Montes reacts after winning a point during the Virginia men's tennis match against Wake Forest in the NCAA semifinals. / Virginia Athletics

Virginia's reign as two-time defending champions of NCAA Division I Men's Tennis has come to an end. With their best player out with an illness and their second-best player essentially playing on one leg, the Cavaliers couldn't overcome those obstacles as their run for a third-straight national title came up short.

No. 3 seed Virginia men's tennis (25-6) had its season ended in a 4-1 loss to ACC rival and No. 6 seed Wake Forest (31-6) in the quarterfinals of the 2024 NCAA Men's Tennis Championship on Thursday night at Oklahoma State's Greenwood Tennis Center in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

When these two teams met in the regular season back on March 1st in what was the ACC opener, then-No. 8 Virginia managed to come away with a hard-fought and thrilling 4-3 victory over then-No. 3 Wake Forest in Charlottesville. Pivotal to that outcome were victories by Chris Rodesch, Inaki Montes, and Dylan Dietrich on the top three singles courts.

In the rematch in the NCAA quarterfinals, UVA faced a severe disadvantage as three-time All-American and 2023 NCAA Tournament MVP Chris Rodesch was pulled from the lineup for the duration of the tournament due to an illness, moving Montes to the top court and Dietrich to court 2.

To make matters worse, Montes, who has dealt with injuries all season long, appeared to be playing through a hamstring injury, as his leg was taped and he was seen limping all throughout his match on the top court with Wake Forest's Filippo Moroni.

Injuries happen in sports and outcomes cannot be entirely attributed to them, but it is surely unfortunate to see Virginia's bid for a three-peat derailed by such uncontrollable circumstances.

Just as they did in the first meeting, the Demon Deacons started the match off strong by claiming the doubles point. Holden Koons and DK Suresh Ekambaram defeated UVA's Edoardo Graziani and James Hopper 6-3. After Virginia evened things up with Dylan Dietrich and Inaki Montes taking down Filippo Moroni and Matthew Thomson 6-3, Wake Forest clinched the doubles point as Luca Pow and Luciano Tacchi outlasted Alexander Kiefer and Jeffrey von der Schulenburg 7-5.

Wake Forest continued that momentum into singles play, where the Deacs won the first set on five of the six courts. Tacchi went on to beat Kiefer 6-2, 6-2 on court 4 and Koons defeated Hopper 6-3, 7-6 (7-5) on court 6 to give Wake Forest a 3-0 lead in the match.

In what was ultimately his final collegiate match, Inaki Montes showed his championship grit, fighting through the leg injury and bouncing back after dropping the first set 0-6 to earn a gutsy 0-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Filippo Moroni on court 1 to give the Cavaliers their lone point of the night.

Dylan Dietrich battled to push his match to a third set, but ultimately fell to DK Suresh Ekambaram 7-6 (7-4), 4-6, 6-4 on court 2 to concede the clinching point for Wake Forest. Dietrich, the ACC Freshman of the Year, had won his last nine matches coming in, but was moved up to court 2 with Rodesch out of the lineup.

Jeffrey von der Schulenburg was leading Matthew Thomson 3-2 in the third set on court 3 and Mans Dahlberg was trailing Luca Pow 4-3 in the third set on court 5 when play was suspended.

“Congratulations to Wake Forest. Incredible fight. I hope they get a national championship for the ACC. We're rooting for them all the way," said UVA head coach Andres Pedroso. “What can I say? Like always, these guys fought til the bitter end. Every single court just fought tooth and nail for the program, for the values that we believe in, for the brotherhood."

The defeat was Virginia's first outdoor loss since May 17th, 2021, when the Cavaliers fell to USC in the NCAA Round of 16. The loss ends the decorated UVA careers of Chris Rodesch, Inaki Montes de la Torre, Jeffrey von der Schulenburg, and Alexander Kiefer, who led the Cavaliers to back-to-back national titles in 2022 and 2023.

"The fourth years, what can I say? They have taken this program to new heights, and they've done it by winning over the entire UVA community and college tennis community. And they've won the respect of their opponents," said Pedroso. "I'm just so proud to have coached those guys for four years. What a legacy. What a story. They'll never be forgotten.”

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Matt Newton

MATT NEWTON

Managing Editor and Publisher, CavaliersNow Email: mattnewton@virginia.eduTwitter: @mattynewtssWebsite | LinkedIn | Instagram Matt Newton is the managing editor and publisher at CavaliersNow. He has been covering UVA athletics since 2019 and has been the managing editor at CavaliersNow since launching the site in August 2021. Matt covers all things UVA sports, including Virginia basketball and football news and recruiting, former Wahoos in the pros, and coverage of all 23 of the NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. A native of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, Matt grew up a huge Philadelphia sports fan, but has also been a UVA sports fanatic his entire life thanks to his parents, who are alums of the University of Virginia. Matt followed in his parents' footsteps and attended UVA from 2017-2021, graduating with a degree in Media Studies and a minor in Economics in May of 2021.