Men’s tennis: No. 2 Virginia upset 4-3 at No. 11 Illinois

The No. 2 Virginia men’s tennis team (8-2) suffered a 4-3 loss at No. 11 Illinois (7-4) on Saturday (Feb. 27) at the Atkins Tennis Center in Urbana, Ill.

The short-handed Cavaliers won the doubles point but suffered losses at No. 1, 2, 3 and 6 singles to drop their second-straight match.

“I was really pleased with the opportunity to play tonight in a great environment and thought it was great to deal with the adversity we did,” said Virginia head coach Brian Boland. “I was also pleased with the team, they really left it all out there on the court tonight. We came up a little short, but I like where we are at in this point of the season. I think the players have really bought in to what we are doing and how we are doing it. I’m excited about what is to come. Hopefully we can get back to work in a couple of days and get ready for another tough trip coming up.”

Redshirt junior Harrison Richmond (Pawley’s Island, S.C.) and senior Jonathan Cornish (London, England) started off the match with a 6-4 victory at No. 3 doubles. After both No. 1 and No. 2 doubles went to tiebreakers, juniors Luca Corinteli (Alexandria, Va.) and J.C. Aragone (Yorba Linda, Calif.) won their tiebreaker 7-4 on court two to wrap up the doubles point.

The Illini tied the match, 1-1, after Jared Hiltzik defeated sophomore Collin Altamirano (Sacramento, Calif.) 6-2, 6-3 at No. 1 singles. Sophomore Henrik Wiersholm (Kirkland, Wash.) put UVA up 2-1 with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Pablo Landa at No. 5 singles. Senior Mac Styslinger (Birmingham, Ala.), playing at No. 3, dropped his first set, 6-2, but battled back in the second, winning 6-2, to force a third set, but fell 6-4, which tied the match 2-2. Aragone won tiebreakers in both his first and second sets at No. 4 to push Virginia ahead 3-2, but Corinteli and junior Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Charlotte, N.C.) both lost their third sets as the Illini clinched the match.

Senior Ryan Shane (Falls Church, Va.) did not play, causing the Cavaliers to go with an altered line-up.

“Ryan has been nursing an injury for a week or so and I chose to keep him out of the lineup,” Boland said. “Typical of Ryan, he was ready and willing to play, but for the sake of the long term and the process, I thought it was better to keep him out today and I feel that was the right decision.”

Virginia begins conference action next week, playing at Louisville on Friday, March 4 at 5 p.m. before heading to Blacksburg, Va., to face No. 46 Virginia Tech on Sunday, March 6 at 6 p.m.

 

No. 11 Illinois 4, No. 2 Virginia 3

Doubles

1. Thai-Son Kwiatkowski/Mac Syslinger (UVA) vs. Jared Hiltzik/Alex Jesse (ILL) 6-6, unf.
2. Luca Corinteli/J.C. Aragone (UVA) def. Aleks Vukic/Aron Hiltzek (ILL) 7-6
3. Harrison Richmond/Jonathan Cornish (UVA) def. Julian Childers/Aiden Jiang (ILL) 6-4

Singles

1. Jared Hiltzek (ILL) def. Collin Altamirano (UVA) 6-2, 6-3
2. Aleks Vukic (ILL) def. Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (UVA) 7-6, 4-6, 6-2
3. Aron Jiltzik (ILL) def. Mac Styslinger (UVA) 6-2, 2-6, 6-4
4. J.C. Aragone (UVA) def. Julian Childers (ILL) 7-6, 7-6
5. Henrik Wiersholm (UVA) def. Pablo Landa (ILL) 6-4, 6-2
6. Asher Hirsh (ILL) def. Luca Corinteli (UVA) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4