CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia men’s tennis team (27-4) logged a 4-0 victory against Duke (22-7) in the Round of 16 of the 2023 NCAA Men’s Tennis Team Championship on Saturday (May 13) at the Virginia Tennis Facility at the Boar’s Head Resort.
Virginia won the doubles point and took singles courts one, three and six in straight sets. Freshman Måns Dahlberg won the clinching match for the Cavaliers.
The two teams began warm-ups outdoors but went into a lightning delay 30 minutes before the scheduled first serve. After a rainstorm soaked the courts, it was decided to move the match indoors, starting doubles 45 minutes later than originally scheduled. After the Cavaliers clinched the doubles point, it was determined that condensation on the bottom three courts made them too slippery to play on, so only courts 1-3 were available for singles. Eventually, court two also became unplayable, and the decision was made to move the match back outdoors after the courts had been dried.
Singles restarted at 6 p.m., five hours after the original match start time of 1 p.m.
Both Chris Rodesch and Jeffrey von der Schulenburg won their first sets in tiebreakers while playing indoors. Rodesch took his 7-2 while von der Schulenburg won 7-5. Rodesch was up 3-1 in his second set when play restarted outdoors. He held on to top No. 12 Garrett Johns 6-4 in the second set to give UVA a 2-0 lead.
Chris Rodesch talks about playing his match half indoors and half outdoors #NCAAMTEN #GoHoos⚔️ pic.twitter.com/nKnnTZL93m
— Virginia Men’s Tennis (@UVAMensTennis) May 13, 2023
Von der Schulenburg won his second set 7-5 outdoors against Andrew Zhang on court three to give UVA a 3-0 lead.
The three courts that had not started indoors all won their first sets including Dahlberg who came back from down 3-0 to take his in a tiebreaker, 7-4, against Faris Khan on court six. Dahlberg blanked Khan 6-0 in the second set to clinch the match.
Måns Dahlberg talks about winning the clincher in today’s Sweet 16 win against Duke #GoHoos⚔️ pic.twitter.com/7mccBamPCu
— Virginia Men’s Tennis (@UVAMensTennis) May 13, 2023
Alex Kiefer was leading 5-2 in his second set on court five against Andrew Dale when the match ended.
“Duke competed extremely well today,” said Virginia head coach Andres Pedroso. “They gave us everything they had, and it was a challenge, which is what we thought it was going to be. I am really proud of our guys. We just stay composed…