CARY, N.C.– The No. 2 Virginia men’s tennis team (21-4) opened play at the 2024 ACC Men’s Tennis Championship with a 4-1 victory against Clemson (14-14) on Friday (April 19) at the Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C.
The Cavaliers won the doubles point and an early singles match to take a 2-0 lead, but the Tigers won on court three to make it 2-1. Virginia won on court five to go up 3-1. Senior Chris Rodesch clinched the match with a three-set win on court one.
With the victory, the top-seeded Cavaliers advance to the semifinals where they will take on 4-seed Duke (18-8) on Saturday, April 20 at 11 a.m. (Match time was pushed back due to damp courts).
Virginia made quick work of the ninth-seeded Tigers in doubles, picking up 6-3 wins on courts two and three while senior Iñaki Montes and grad student James Hopper were up 5-3 with match point on court one when it was abandoned.
Singles proved to be much more of a challenge on five of the six courts. Freshman Dylan Dietrich dominated his match on court four, winning 6-1, 6-2 in just over an hour to give Virginia a 2-0 lead before three first sets had finished.
As Dietrich was closing out his win, Montes, senior Alexander Kiefer and sophomore Måns Dahlberg all had their first sets go to tiebreakers. Dahlberg won his 9-7, while Montes dropped his 7-3. Kiefer swept his breaker 7-0 to give UVA four first sets.
Clemson’s Noa Vukadin finished off a 6-2, 6-4 win on three to make the score 3-1.
Montes won his second set 6-0 to force a third set against Wissam Abderrahman on court two.
Kiefer took his second set 6-2 against Stewart Aronsen to put UVA ahead 3-1.
Rodesch had won his first set 6-3 against Ryuhei Azma, but was edged 6-4 in the second. Rodesch won the third 6-4 to clinch the match.
Montes was leading 3-1 on court two when play was abandoned. Dahlberg had just dropped his second set on court six.
Duke defeated North Carolina 4-0 in its quarterfinal match to earn its place in the semifinals.
𝑶𝑵𝑬. 𝑴𝑨𝑻𝑪𝑯. 𝑪𝑳𝑶𝑺𝑬𝑹.
🏆 https://t.co/DYxV4KWpb7
📰 https://t.co/SSDkSphk3a pic.twitter.com/PLsQgMmJ2E— The ACC (@theACC) April 19, 2024
FROM HEAD COACH ANDRES PEDROSO
“Our team has a ‘never give up’ mentality. No matter what the score is, what the conditions are, we’re playing. These guys are just going to compete every single point. That’s been the culture for a long time in Virginia and these guys have bought in they’ve embraced it, they…