The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Virginia
No. 1 Virginia edges No. 10 Men's Tennis, 4-3
03.15.2009 | Men's Tennis
March 15, 2009
AUSTIN, Texas -- No. 10 Texas (11-3) split the singles session but fell just short in the doubles session, as No. 1 Virginia (17-0) escaped with a 4-3 victory over the Longhorns Sunday evening at UT's Penick-Allison Tennis Center.
With the match delayed one hour and 45 minutes due to light rain, Texas and Virginia elected to begin the match unconventionally with the six singles matches instead of the three-match doubles session. Texas junior All-American Dimitar Kutrovsky rallied from a 5-2 first-set deficit to the Cavaliers' 18th-ranked Dominic Inglot and took the last five games en route to a 7-5 opening-set win at first singles. Kutrovsky held off Inglot in the second set, 6-4 to stake Texas to a 1-0 lead.
UT sophomore Ed Corrie pushed the Longhorns' lead to 2-0 with a 6-3, 6-4 win at second singles over Virginia's 16th-ranked Michael Shabaz. UVA got on the board at sixth singles, where Drew Courtney posted a 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 win over UT junior Josh Zavala. The Wahoos evened the match at third singles, where UVA's 12th-ranked Sanam Singh tallied a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Texas sophomore Kellen Damico.
Texas senior Miguel Reyes Varela took the first set off of Virginia's Houston Barrick at fourth singles, 6-3. Reyes Varela led in the second set tiebreaker, but Barrick took the final four points of the tiebreaker to push the match to a third set. Barrick prevailed in set three, 6-3 to give the Cavaliers a 3-2 lead.
Virginia's Steven Rooda took the first set off of UT junior Olivier Sajous at fifth singles, 7-5, but Sajous claimed the ensuing second-set tiebreaker to force a third set, where Sajous prevailed, 6-3 to even the match at three necessitate a dramatic doubles session.
Kutrovsky and Zavala broke the service of Virginia's Inglot and Shabaz early on at second doubles, but the Cavaliers' duo rebounded to take the match 8-6. Texas' Sajous and Reyes Varela picked up an early service break en route to an 8-6 win at the third position. Trailing 7-6 at first doubles, Texas' Corrie and Damico saved a number of match points and broke Virginia's service to even the match at seven against UVA's Barrick and Singh.
Virginia broke Texas' service in the next game, and while Texas saved several more match points in the next Cavalier service game, Virginia finally converted a match point to close out the match, 9-7 and secure the doubles point to win the match.
"It was a great college match today," UT coach Michael Center said. "I give Virginia credit for hanging in there after we got on top of them early. We played hard and fought hard, but we just didn't get the big points today. We had some opportunities to put the match away, but we just didn't execute the way we needed to at the right moments.
"We've got to get better, put this one behind us and get ready for Rice on Tuesday night," Center concluded. "On the positive side, Olivier Sajous played his best match of the year, and we did see some really positive things out there tonight. We've just got to keep pushing forward."
Texas hosts Rice on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at the Penick-Allison Tennis Center.
#1 Virginia 4, #10 Texas 3
Doubles - Order of Finish: 2, 3, 1
1 No. 2 Barrick/Singh (UVA) def. No. 35 Corrie/Damico (UT) - 9-7
2 No. 23 Inglot/Shabaz (UVA) def. No. 32 Kutrovsky/Zavala (UT) - 8-6
3 Sajous/Reyes Varela (UT) def. Courtney/Singer (UVA) - 8-6
Singles - Order of Finish: 1, 2, 6, 3, 4, 5
1 #17 Dimitar Kutrovsky (UT) def. #18 Dominic Inglot (UVA) - 7-5, 6-4
2 #68 Ed Corrie (UT) def. #16 Michael Shabaz (UVA) - 6-3, 6-4
3 #12 Sanam Singh (UVA) def. #125 Kellen Damico (UT) - 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
4 #54 Houston Barrick (UVA) def. Miguel Reyes Varela (UT) - 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-3
5 #121 Olivier Sajous (UT) def. Steven Rooda (UVA) - 5-7, 7-6, 6-3
6 Drew Courtney (UVA) def. Josh Zavala (UT) - 4-6, 6-0, 6-3
