Men’s tennis: No. 1 UVA downs No. 7 UCLA 4-0

The top-ranked UVA men’s tennis team (7-0) picked up a 4-0 victory over No. 7 UCLA (7-2) in the quarterfinals of the 2017 Intercollegiate Tennis Association National Men’s Team Indoor Championship on Saturday (Feb. 18) at the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar’s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Va.

The Cavaliers will take on No. 5 North Carolina (11-0) on Sunday, Feb. 19 at 3:30 p.m. in the semifinals. The Atlantic Coast Conference has three of the four teams in the semis with No. 2 Wake Forest taking on No. 3 Ohio State at 12 p.m. in the other semifinal.

Against UCLA, the Cavaliers picked up with doubles point and followed with victories at two, four and six singles to advance.

“I thought that the difference today was that we came out with an incredible amount of energy in doubles,” said Virginia head coach Brian Boland. “We executed really well and played with a lot of aggression, which made the difference for us in the doubles point. I believe we got off to a great start across the board in singles and the level of focus and energy we played with today was necessary against a great UCLA team. We will continue with that kind of focus tomorrow and really bring it. We know that North Carolina will do that as well. We have played them a number of times and we are really looking forward to doing it again.”

Senior J.C. Aragone (Yorba Linda, Calif.) and junior Collin Altamirano (Sacramento, Calif.) opened the match with a dominant 6-1 victory at No. 3 doubles. Senior Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Charlotte, N.C.) and junior Alexander Ritschard (Zurich, Switzerland) picked up a 6-3 victory at No. 2 to clinch the doubles point.

In singles, Aragone picked up a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Connor Rapp at No. 4 singles. Junior Henrik Wiersholm (Kirkland, Wash.) downed No. 112 Maxime Cressy 6-4, 6-1 at No. 6. Kwiatkowski clinched the victory with a 6-1, 6-2 win over No. 19 Gage Brymer at No. 2. Freshman Carl Soderlund (Stockholm, Sweden) was up 5-3 in his second set when play was halted.

Dual matches are scheduled at 9 a.m., 12 p.m., 3:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Friday through Sunday with the championship match set for 11 a.m. on Monday. Each of the 16 teams is guaranteed three matches during the championship so all will be in action again tomorrow. Fans can attend the four-day championship free of charge.

FloTennis will be on site providing live streaming coverage of all four days of competition. FloTennis is a subscription-based service with monthly and annual rate options.

Live scoring will be available through VirginiaSports.com.

 

#1 UVA 4, #7 UCLA 0

Singles competition

1. Collin Altamirano (VA) vs. #73 Martin Redlicki (UCLA) 3-6, 2-4, unfinished
2. #28 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (VA) def. #19 Gage Brymer (UCLA) 6-1, 6-2
3. Carl Soderlund (VA) vs. Evan Zhu (UCLA) 6-2, 5-3, unfinished
4. #64 J.C. Aragone (VA) def. Connor Rapp (UCLA) 6-3, 6-2
5. Alexander Ritschard (VA) vs. Logan Staggs (UCLA) 7-5, 1-1, unfinished
6. Henrik Wiersholm (VA) def. #112 Maxime Cressy (UCLA) 6-4, 6-1

Doubles competition

1. #55 Luca Corinteli/Carl Soderlund (VA) vs. #16 Martin Redlicki/Evan Zhu (UCLA) 4-4, unfinished
2. Thai-Son Kwiatkowski/Alexander Ritschard (VA) def. Gage Brymer/Maxime Cressy (UCLA) 6-3
3. Collin Altamirano/J.C. Aragone (VA) def. Austin Rapp/Ben Goldberg (UCLA) 6-1

Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (4,6,2)

T-1:40 A-787