March 4, 2003

IRVINE, CALIF - The No. 52 Virginia men's tennis team began their four-match trip to the West Coast with a 7-0 win over No. 71 UC-Irvine on Tuesday. The win improves the Cavaliers' record to 10-1 on the season, the best start in school history.

Virginia took control early by winning the doubles point for a 1-0 lead. The team of Doug Stewart (Malibu, Calif.) and Michael Duquette (Virginia Beach, Calif.) won at No. 1 doubles and Chris Gonyer (Louisville, Ky.) and Rylan Rizza (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.) won at No. 2 doubles.

The Cavaliers carried that momentum into singles where they swept all six matches. Stewart, Duquette, Rizza, and Gonyer all won in straight sets at the No. 1 through No. 4 singles positions respectively. Stephen Nolen (Aurora, Colo.) rallied for a three set win at No. 5 singles and Stephen Rozek (Chardron, Ohio) won in straight sets at No. 6 singles.

"It was a good start to a long trip," stated Virginia coach Brian Boland. "We were focused and played a lot of good matches today. It was a quality win on the road against a ranked team and we are excited to play UCLA tomorrow."

Virginia continues their trip Wednesday as they visit the No. 3 ranked Bruins of UCLA. The Cavaliers will play UC-Santa Barbara and Pacific before returning home to start the ACC season March 15 as they host Georgia Tech and non-conference foe UMBC in a doubleheader at the Snyder Tennis Center.

No. 52 Virginia 7, No. 71 UC-Irvine 0

Singles
1. Doug Stewart (UVa) def. Jonathan Endrikat (UCI)  6-3, 6-1
2. Michael Duquette (UVa) def. Brian Morton (UCI)  6-3, 6-2
3. Rylan Rizza (UVa) def. Greg Biorkman (UCI)  6-3, 6-2
4. Chris Gonyer (UVa) def. Peter Surapol (UCI)  6-1, 6-2
5. Stephen Nolen (UVa) def. Eric Yandoc (UCI)  0-6, 6-1, 6-4
6. Stephen Rozek (UVa) def. Arash Bormand (UCI)  6-2, 6-0

Doubles
1. Stewart/Duquette (UVA) def. Endrikat/Biorkman (UCI)  8-5
2. Gonyer/Rizza (UVA) def. Hekmat/Surapol (UCI)  8-3
3. Williams/Yandoc (UCI) def. Cohen/Nolen (UVA)  9-7