Men’s tennis: No. 2 Virginia 7, Louisville 0

The No. 2 Virginia men’s tennis team (9-2, 1-0 ACC) opened conference play with a 7-0 victory at Louisville (7-6, 0-1 ACC) on Friday (March 4) at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center in Louisville, Ky.

“I was pleased with the way the team competed tonight,” said Virginia head coach Brian Boland. “I was especially thrilled with Harrison Richmond. He continues to work hard and get better with each match. Overall, it was a great performance and we are already focused for the match on Sunday.”

Virginia began by winning the doubles point after its two top-10-ranked doubles teams won on courts one and two. The sixth-ranked duo of junior Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Charlotte, N.C.) and senior Mac Styslinger (Birmingham, Ala.) logged a 6-1 victory followed by a 6-4 win by seventh-ranked senior Ryan Shane (Falls Church, Va.) and junior Luca Corinteli (Alexandria, Va.).

Kwiatkowski, currently ranked No. 3 in singles, gave UVA a 2-0 lead after wrapping up a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Jeffrey Brown at the third court. Shane, ranked No. 14, cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 victory at No. 1 singles. Junior J.C. Aragone (Yorba Linda, Calif.) sewed up the victory with a 6-0, 6-2 victory at No. 5. Aragone is now 9-0 in singles in dual matches this season.

Redshirt senior Harrison Richmond (Pawley’s Island, S.C.) logged a 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Christian Haushammer at No. 6. Styslinger battled back after dropping his first set 0-6 and was down a break in his second set to tie it 6-6 and win the tiebreaker to force a third set. Styslinger wrapped up the final set to win 0-6, 7-6, 6-2 and put the Cavaliers up 6-0.

Sophomore Collin Altamirano (Sacramento, Calif.) completed the sweep by winning his third set in a tiebreaker, downing Christopher Morin-Kougoucheff 6-2, 4-6, 7-6.

The Cavaliers close out the weekend by heading to Blacksburg, Va., to face No. 53 Virginia Tech on Sunday, March 6 at 6 p.m. before spending spring recess in Tulsa, Okla., taking on Tulsa on Thursday, March 10 and Oklahoma on Saturday, March 12. The Cavaliers return home to host N.C. State on Friday, March 18 at 3 p.m. at the Snyder Tennis Center.

The Virginia-Virginia Tech match is part of the Commonwealth Clash presented by Virginia529, which is a head-to-head, points-based competition between the athletic teams of the Cavaliers and Hokies. The Commonwealth Clash encourages a friendly, statewide rivalry between the two schools across all school-sponsored sports with 21 individual event points on the line. The school that accumulates 11 points or more will be crowned the winner and take home the Virginia529 Commonwealth Clash trophy. Virginia currently leads 7-5.

 

No. 2 Virginia 7, Louisville 0

Doubles

1. #7 Ryan Shane/Luca Corinteli (UVA) def. Alex Gornet/Jeffrey Brown (UL) 6-4
2. #6 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski/Mac Styslinger (UVA) def. C. Morin-Kougoucheff/George Hedley (UL) 6-1
3. #29 J.C. Aragone/Henrik Wiersholm vs. Sean Donohue/Christian Haushammer (UL) 4-4 unf.

Singles

1. #14 Ryan Shane (UVA) def. Alex Gornet (UL) 6-1, 6-2
2. #29 Collin Altamirano (UVA) def. C. Morin-Kougoucheff (UL) 6-2, 4-6, 7-6
3. #3 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (UVA) def. Jeffrey Brown (UL) 6-3, 6-4
4. Mac Styslinger (UVA) def. George Hedley (UL) 0-6, 7-6, 6-2
5. #111 J.C. Aragone (UVA) def. Sean Donohoe (UL) 6-0, 6-2
6. Harrison Richmond (UVA) def. Christian Haushammer (UL) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3

Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (3,1,5,6,4,2)