URBANA, Ill. – The top-ranked Virginia men’s tennis team won its 2008 road debut in dramatic fashion, defeating No. 8 Illinois 4-3 Friday night in front of 1,231 fans at the Atkins Tennis Center. The Cavaliers rallied from losing the doubles point and from a 3-1 deficit in the dual match to stave off the Fighting Illini’s upset bid.

“Our overall effort was great tonight,” said Virginia head coach Brian Boland. “The guys hung tough against a great Illinois team in a tremendous atmosphere for college tennis. It was just an exciting match. It also showed us things we need to work on to continue to improve as a team. We now have to get ready for another strong opponent on the road as we head to Notre Dame on Sunday.”

The Cavaliers (2-0) fell behind early as the Illini (1-1) won the doubles point. The No. 36 ranked Illinois duo of Ryan Rowe and Billy Heiser defeated No. 25 Houston Barrick (Brentwood, Tenn.) and Dominic Inglot (London, England) 8-4 at No. 2 doubles. The Cavalier drew even as No. 17 ranked Ted Angelinos (Athens, Greece) and Lee Singer (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) topped Waylon Chin and Marc Spicijaric 8-4 at No. 3 doubles. With the opening point on the line, the Illinois team of Ruben Gonzales and Brandon Davis upset No. 1 ranked Somdev Devvarman (Chennai, India) and Treat Huey (Alexandria, Va.) 9-7, handing the Cavalier duo their first loss of the season.

In singles, Virginia drew even in the match as Sanam Singh (Chandigarh, India) topped Chin 6-4, 6-1 at No. 5 singles. Illnois retook the lead, 2-1, as Gonzales defeated Huey 6-3, 6-2 at the No. 2 position. That lead was extended to 3-1 as Spicijaric downed Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) 6-4, 6-4 at No. 4 singles. Devvarman topped Rowe 6-3, 6-4 at the No. 1 position, to make the score 3-2. The win also extended Devvarman’s dual match winning streak to 12 matches.

To win the match, the Cavaliers needed to win the final two matches on the courts, both of which they lost the first set. At No. 3 singles, Inglot lost the opening set to Heiser 6-4, but answered to win the second set 7-5. In the third set, Inglot fell behind by a break as Heiser took a 5-3 lead. However, the Cavalier would rally to win three consecutive games and forced a third-set tiebreaker. Inglot won the tiebreaker and evened the dual match at 3-3.

At No. 6 singles, Angelinos fell behind to Davis, losing the first set, 6-3, and trailed 5-4 in the second set. With Davis serving for the match, he took a 40-30 lead for a match point. Angelinos drew him towards the net and hit a passing shot to fight off the match point that could have clinched the dual match for Illinois. Angelinos broke Davis’ serve in the game to even the set at 5-5 and eventually won a second set tiebreaker to draw even in the match. With the momentum from his rally in the second set, Angelinos took the final set 6-2 to clinch the match for Virginia.

“I just kept believing that I could win the match,” said Angelinos. “I had to keep fighting. We were down on some other courts and I knew the team needed my win. The guys did a great job of supporting each other and this was a huge win for us. This type of win says a lot about our team and hopefully is a sign of good things to come.”

With the victory, the Cavaliers snapped Fighting Illini’s 15-match winning streak at the Atkins Tennis Center. The win was also Virginia’s first ever win at Illinois. In their last trip to Illinois two years ago, the Cavaliers, also ranked No. 1 at the time, were upset 5-2 by Illinois.

The Cavaliers continue their road trip Sunday as they visit No. 12 Notre Dame. Match time is noon.

No. 1 Virginia 4, No. 8 Illinois 3

Doubles:
1. Gonzales/Davis (Ill) def. #1 Devvarman/Huey (UVa)
2. #36 Rowe/Heiser (Ill) def. #25 Barrick/Inglot (UVa) 8-4
3. #17 Angelinos/Singer (UVa) def. Chin/Spicijaric (Ill) 8-4

Singles:
1. #1 Somdev Devvarman (UVa) def. #15 Ryan Rowe (Ill) 6-3, 6-4
2. Ruben Gonzales (Ill) def. #12 Treat Huey (UVa) 6-3, 6-2
3. #3 Dominic Inglot (UVa) def. #70 Billy Heiser (Ill) 4-6, 7-5, 7-6
4. Marc Spicijaric (Ill) def. Michael Shabaz (UVa) 6-4, 6-4
5. Sanam Singh (UVa) def. Waylon Chin (Ill) 6-4, 6-1
6. Ted Angelinos (UVa) vs. Brandon Davis (Ill) 3-6, 7-6, 6-2

Order of Finish: Doubles-2,3,1 • Singles-5,2,4,1,3,6
Attendance: 1231
Records: Virginia (2-0), Illinois (1-1)