Duke Drops Decision to No. 5 Virginia in NCAA Round of 16

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 11 Duke fell 4-0 on Saturday to No. 5 Virginia in the NCAA Team Championship Round of 16 at the Virginia Tennis Facility.
 
With the loss, the Blue Devils concluded their team season with an overall record of 22-7. Duke will still send senior Garrett Johns and rookie Pedro Rodenas to the 2023 NCAA Singles and Doubles Championship, which runs May 22-27 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla. The Cavaliers (27-4) advance to the NCAA quarterfinal round.

How It Happened

• Saturday’s matchup was an unusual one as it featured a lightning delay, wet indoor courts, and multiple location changes.
• The Blue Devils and Cavaliers were scheduled to begin outdoors at 1 p.m. but were halted by a lightning delay. The decision was made to move indoors, and doubles action began around 1:45 p.m.
• The doubles pairing of Ryan Goetz and Alexander Kiefer kicked off play with a 6-4 victory over Faris Khan and Niroop Vallabhaneni on court three. The home side then recorded the doubles point after No. 58 Inaki Montes and William Woodall bested No. 25 Johns and Rodenas, 6-3, on the main court.
• The match between No. 39 Michael Heller and Andrew Zhang against Chris Rodesch and Jeffrey von der Schulenburg on court two went unfinished with the Cavaliers in front 5-4 when the match was halted.
• Due to courts four, five and six being wet, the teams were only able to begin singles play on the top three courts. Midway through the opening sets, play was stopped due to the remaining indoor courts being unplayable. The teams were…