The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Virginia
No. 1 Virginia tops No. 4 Men's Tennis, 9-4
03.07.2010 | Men's Tennis
March 7, 2010
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- No. 4 Texas (13-2) picked up one doubles win and three singles victories, but No. 1 Virginia (17-1) proved to be too much for the Longhorns Sunday afternoon, as it dealt UT a 9-4 defeat outdoors at UVA's Snyder Tennis Center.
The match featured a unique best-of-13 scoring set-up with nine singles matches and four doubles matches all counting for one point apiece. The standard scoring format calls for the team winning two of three doubles matches to be awarded one point with six singles matches counting for one point apiece. Texas head coach Michael Center and Virginia head coach Brian Boland agreed to play the 13-match format on Saturday.
Virginia opened the match by taking a 2-0 lead behind victories at the fourth and third doubles position. Texas got on the board at second doubles, where the 22nd-ranked duo of juniors Ed Corrie and Kellen Damico posted an 8-5 win over the Cavaliers' 11th-ranked duo of Houston Barrick and Sanam Singh. Virginia added a tight win at first doubles to take a 3-1 lead into the singles session.
The Wahoos extended their lead to 6-1 with straight-set victories at the seventh, sixth and second singles positions. Texas senior Jon Wiegand notched the first singles victory for the Longhorns at the ninth slot, where he dealt Milo Johnson a 6-3, 6-4 defeat. Virginia clinched the victory in the next decision at fourth singles, where Drew Courtney knocked off UT sophomore Jean Andersen by a 6-4, 6-2 count.
Texas senior Dimitar Kutrovsky scored a big victory at No. 1 singles with a win over Michael Shabaz, the nation's second-ranked player. Kutrovsky claimed the first set, 6-4, surrendered the second by the same margin and pulled away for a 6-3 win in the final set to nail down the victory. Virginia added a pair of three-set wins at the eighth and third singles slots before UT senior Josh Zavala finished off the match with a 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-3 win over the Cavaliers' 64th-ranked Houston Barrick.
Texas returns to action on Wednesday, March 10 when it hosts Florida State at 6 p.m.
No. 1 Virginia 9, No. 4 Texas 4
Snyder Tennis Center (outdoors) - Charlottesville, Va.
Doubles - Order of Finish: 4,3,2,1
1. #21 Shabaz/Courtney (UVa) def. #4 Kutrovsky/Zavala (UT) 9-7
2. #22 Corrie/Damico (UT) def. #11 Barrick/Singh (UVa) 8-5
3. Jenkins/Singer (UVa) def. #19 Andersen/Whitehead (UT) 8-5
4. Oudshoorn/Rooda (UVa) def. Mladenov/Wiegand (UT) 8-3
Singles - Order of Finish: 7,6,2,9,4,1,8,3,5
1. #7 Dimitar Kutrovsky (UT) def. #2 Michael Shabaz (UVa) 6-4, 4-6, 6-3
2. #1 Sanam Singh (UVa) def. #10 Ed Corrie (UT) 6-2, 6-4
3. #27 Jarmere Jenkins (UVa) def. #95 Kellen Damico (UT) 5-7, 6-3, 6-1
4. #45 Drew Courtney (UVa) def. Jean Andersen (UT) 6-4, 6-2
5. #78 Josh Zavala (UT) def. #64 Houston Barrick (UVa) 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-3
6. #102 Lee Singer (UVa) def. Vasko Mladenov (UT) 6-1, 6-4
7. #112 Steven Eelkman Rooda (UVa) def. Ben Chen (UT) 6-3, 6-2
8. #122 Philippe Oudshoorn (UVa) def. #98 Daniel Whitehead (UT) 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
9. Jon Wiegand (UT) def. Milo Johnson (UVa) 6-3, 6-4
POST-MATCH COMMENTS
Texas head coach Michael Center
"Virginia was better than us, and they came in ranked No. 1 for a reason. Virginia outplayed us. We had some good performances, like Dimitar Kutrovsky beating the No. 2 player in the country. Josh Zavala played terrific today. But, I've been saying we have a lot of room to improve, and we got a taste of that today."
On the unique scoring format, with 9 singles matches and 4 doubles matches: Everyone got to play a match today. The problem with our sport is these guys work hard every day but they don't always get to play in critical moments. We can't get enough matches for everyone since we typically can only put six players out there. Our seventh and eighth players have to be ready to step in when needed. Today was a great opportunity to put them under the fire and see what would happen. It was a great experience for our young guys today. In thinking long-term, we wanted to see where we needed to improve. Our goal is to be the best in May, not March.
