No. 1 Men’s Tennis Downs No. 4 Texas 9-4

Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com Lee Singer

CHARLOTTESVILLE – The top-ranked Virginia men’s tennis team won its 62nd consecutive home match with a 9-4 win over No. 4 Texas Sunday afternoon at the Snyder Tennis Center. The match featured an alternative scoring method agreed upon by both coaches that involved four doubles and nine singles matches, all worth one point each.   

Virginia (17-1) took an early lead by winning three of the four doubles matches from the Longhorns (13-2). At No. 4, Philippe Oudshoorn (Apeldoorn, The Netherlands) and Steven Eelkman Rooda (Amersfoort, The Netherlands) topped Vasko Mladenov and Jon Wiegand 8-3. The Cavalier duo of Lee Singer (Laguna Niguel, Calif.) and Jarmere Jenkins (College Park, Ga.) downed No. 19 Jean Andersen and Daniel Whitehead 8-5 at the No. 3 position. Texas got on the board with an 8-5 win at No. 2, where No. 22 Ed Corrie and Kellen Damico topped No. 11 Houston Barrick (Brentwood, Tenn.) and Sanam Singh (Chandigarh, India). Virginia closed out doubles play at No. 1 with a win, as No. 21 Drew Courtney (Clifton, Va.) and Michael Shabaz (Fairfax, Va.) upset fourth-ranked Dimitar Kutrovsky and Josh Zavala 9-7. 

The Cavaliers extended their lead early in singles at No. 7, where Rooda topped Ben Chen 6-3, 6-2. Singer made the score 5-1 in favor of Virginia with his 6-1, 6-4 victory over Mladenov at No. 6. Singh, the nation’s top ranked player, downed 10th-ranked Corrie 6-2, 6-4 at No. 2. At No. 9, Wiegand defeated Milo Johnson (Tulsa, Okla.) 6-3, 6-4 to cut the lead to 6-2 before Courtney clinched the match at No. 4 with his 6-4, 6-2 win over Andersen that made the score 7-2. Seventh-ranked Kutrovsky added a win for Texas at No. 1, topping second-ranked Shabaz in straight sets. Virginia countered with three set wins at No. 8 and No. 3, as Oushoorn topped Whitehead and Jenkins downed Damico. Texas won the final match on the courts, at No. 5, where Zavala defeated Barrick.

Had the match used traditional scoring, the final would have been a 5-2 win for the Cavaliers. In tournament play, the match would have been a 4-0 Virginia victory.

“I thought it was a great day for college tennis,” said Virginia head coach Brian Boland. “I really appreciate Texas agreeing to play this match with this format. I think this experience will help both teams as we continue our tough schedules. I was really pleased with the hard work of our guys, especially towards the bottom of the lineup, today. They continue to improve with each match and that has been my goal all along. It has been a big positive for our program.”

The Cavaliers will return to action on March 19 as they visit Maryland.

No. 1 Virginia 9, No. 4 Texas 4

Doubles:
1. #21 Shabaz/Courtney (UVa) def. #4 Kutrovsky/Zavala (UT) 9-7
2. #22 Corrie/Damico (UT) def. #11 Barrick/Singh (UVa) 8-5
3. Jenkins/Singer (UVa) def. #19 Andersen/Whitehead (UT) 8-5
4. Oudshoorn/Rooda (UVa) def. Mladenov/Wiegand (UT) 8-3

Singles:
1. #7 Dimitar Kutrovsky (UT) def. #2 Michael Shabaz (UVa) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
2. #1 Sanam Singh (UVa) def. #10 Ed Corrie (UT) 6-2, 6-4
3. #27 Jarmere Jenkins (UVa) def. #95 Kellen Damico (UT) 5-7, 6-3, 6-1
4. #45 Drew Courtney (UVa) def. Jean Andersen (UT) 6-4, 6-2
5. #78 Josh Zavala (UT) def. #64 Houston Barrick (UVa) 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3
6. #102 Lee Singer (UVa) def. Vasko Mladenov (UT) 6-1, 6-4
7. #112 Steven Eelkman Rooda (UVa) def. Ben Chen (UT) 6-3, 6-2
8. #122 Philippe Oudshoorn (UVa) def. #98 Daniel Whitehead (UT) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
9. Jon Wiegand (UT) def. Milo Johnson (UVa) 6-3, 6-4

Order of Finish:
Doubles: 4,3,2,1
Singles: 7,6,2,9,4,1,8,3,5