The top-seeded UVA men’s tennis team (24-4, 11-1 ACC) came up just short in the final of the 2016 ACC Men’s Tennis Championship, falling 4-3 to Wake Forest (29-5, 10-2 ACC) on Sunday (Apr. 24) at the Cary Tennis Center.
The match was tied 3-3 with No. 6 singles becoming the deciding match. Junior Luca Corinteli (Alexandria, Va.) had won his first set in a tiebreaker, 7-4, but dropped his second set in a tiebreaker, 7-3, to Wake’s Dennis Uspensky. The two were tied 2-2 in the third set before Corinteli went up a break. Uspensky broke Corinteli to tie the set 4-4 and put it back on serve. Both players held serve with the set ending 6-6 and heading to another tiebreaker. Uspensky won the tiebreaker 7-4 to clinch to the ACC title for Wake as well earning himself the ACC Championship MVP award.
“First of all, congratulations to Wake Forest for playing a great tournament,” said Virginia head coach Brian Boland. “This was a great tournament for the guys and great preparation for the NCAA Tournament, which is when we are hoping to peak. This is all part of it. We will bounce back. We look forward to playing in the NCAA’s and we know the guys will learn a lot from this.”
Virginia trailed 1-0 after dropping the doubles point. The Demon Deacons took a 2-0 lead after Skander Mansouri logged a straight-set victory over senior Ryan Shane (Falls Church, Va.) on court one. Moments later, junior J.C. Aragone (Yorba Linda, Calif.) closed out a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Romain Bogaerts at No. 4. Junior Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Charlotte, N.C.) tied the match 2-2 when he downed Jon Ho 6-2, 6-2 at No. 3.
Courts 2, 5 and 6 all split first sets. Sophomore Collin Altamirano (Sacramento, Calif.), playing at No. 2, recovered from a 6-4 setback in his first set against No. 19 Petros Chrysochos to win his final two sets 6-3, 6-3 and put the Cavaliers up 3-2. On court five, sophomore Henrik Wiersholm (Kirkland, Wash.) was battling Christian Seraphim for the third time this season in a close match. Wiersholm defeated Seraphim in the ITA Indoors and last week in the regular-season meeting between the two teams, but Seraphim prevailed in this third meeting, picking up a late break in the third set to go up 5-4 and then served to close out a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory to tie the match.
Corinteli had a chance to win in straight sets, holding a 40-30 advantage with Uspensky serving down 6-5, but Uspensky won the two-straight points and then won the tiebreaker to send that match to its decisive third set.
Virginia had been vying for its 10th-consecutive ACC championship. The last team other than Virginia to win the championship was Duke in 2006.
Wake Forest will receive the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The complete NCAA Tournament field will be announced on Tuesday, May 3 at 5:30 p.m. in a live-streaming selection show on NCAA.com.
#7 Wake Forest 4, #1 UVA 3
Singles competition
- #14 Skander Mansouri (WF) def. #8 Ryan Shane (VA) 6-0, 6-3
- #40 Collin Altamirano (VA) def. #19 Petros Chrysochos (WF) 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
- #6 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (VA) def. Jon Ho (WF) 6-2, 6-2
- #116 J.C. Aragone (VA) def. #118 Romain Bogaerts (WF) 6-1, 6-4
- Christian Seraphim (WF) def. Henrik Wiersholm (VA) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
- Dennis Uspensky (WF) def. Luca Corinteli (VA) 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-4)
Doubles competition
- #13 Skander Mansouri/Christian Seraphim (WF) def. #2 Ryan Shane/Luca Corinteli (VA) 6-4
- #17 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski/Mac Styslinger (VA) def. Petros Chrysochos/Jon Ho (WF) 6-2
- Romain Bogaerts/Dennis Uspensky (WF) def. Collin Altamirano/J.C. Aragone (VA) 6-4
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1,3); Singles (1,4,3,2,5,6)
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