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The University of Virginia men's tennis team defeated Texas 4-1 on Saturday in the semifinals of the 2023 NCAA Men's Tennis Team Championship, at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Florida. Virginia has advanced to eight of the last 12 NCAA Finals.
The team is playing for its sixth NCAA title. Virginia will face Ohio State in the championship game today, May 21 at 12:00 noon. UVA and Ohio State have played each other twice this season, with the Buckeyes going 4-1 and 4-0 in those contests.
Virginia has won 21 consecutive games and hasn't lost an outdoor game this season The Cavaliers won the doubles point in 28 minutes with a pair of 6-1 wins and then won three of their four singles matches completed. Junior Alex Kiefer won the deciding point in a third set tiebreaker on court five.
Virginia jumped out early with 6–1 doubles victories by Chris Rodesch and Jeffrey von der Schulenburg on court two and Ryan Goetz and Alex Kiefer on court three. Texas turned the momentum around, taking four first sets in singles.
Chris Rodesch took one of those first sets, outscoring No. 1 Eliot Spizzirri in a 7-2 tiebreak. Micah Braswell tied the game at one with a 6-2, 6-1 victory on court three. Dahlberg, the other Cavalier to win his first set, also won the second by beating Nevin Arimilli 6-3, 6-2 to put UVA back in the lead 2-1.
The other four fields all split and went to the third set. Ryan Goetz was first to finish his third set. Lui rebounded from his 4-6 setback in the opener against Siem Woldeah on court four to win the second set 6-4. He took the decider 6-1 to put Virginia on the brink.
Kiefer was beaten 6-4 in his first set against Cleeve Harper on court five, but took the second set 6-1 to force the third set. Kiefer led and served 5-4, but Harper stormed back to tie it 5-5. The game was still tied at 6-6, forcing a tiebreaker.
Kiefer pulled off a 7-5 tiebreaker victory to clinch the match. Head coach Andres Pedros explained after the victory: "I'm really proud of our guys. And, you know, we're so lucky to be able to play in the Finals, another NCAA Finals.
What fun! And we're really looking forward to it. Credit to the Texas Longhorns. I mean that program is so professional. Their coaches are so classy. Their players battle so hard. It was such a fair match. A couple of people told me before the match, 'You're gonna really enjoy playing Texas because they're so fair and so classy and they bring a lot of energy, but they play college tennis the way it's supposed to be played.'
So, I want to give the Longhorns a lot of credit and just say congrats for an unbelievable season."
Men's singles
#9 Chris Rodesch (VA) vs. #1 Eliot Spizzirri (UT) 7-6 (2), 4-6, 5-3, unfinished
#26 Inaki Montes (VA) vs. #28 Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 2-6, 7-5, 3-0, unfinished
#61 Micah Braswell (UT) def.
#49 J vd Schulenburg (VA) 6-2, 6-1
#87 Ryan Goetz (VA) def. #54 Siem Woldeab (UT) 4-6, 6-4, 6-1
Alexander Kiefer (VA) def. Cleeve Harper (UT) 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (5)
Mans Dahlberg (VA) def. Nevin Arimilli (UT) 6-3, 6-2
Men's doubles
#58 Inaki Montes/William Woodall (VA) vs.
#3 Eliot Spizzirri/Cleeve Harper (UT) 3-3, unfinished
Chris Rodesch/J vd Schulenburg (VA) def. #75 Siem Woldeab/Pierre-Yves Bailly (UT) 6-1
Ryan Goetz/Alexander Kiefer (VA) def. Chih Chi Huang/Evin McDonald (UT) 6-1
ALEX KIEFER WITH CLINCH #NCAAMTEN #GoHoos ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/sI7grfN7gv — Virginia Men's Tennis (@UVAMensTennis) May 20, 2023
About the University of Virginia
The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia and was founded by Thomas Jefferson.
Conceived in 1800, and opened in 1819, it is important in the history of the United States for being the first to offer studies on subjects that are now common, such as architecture, astronomy and philosophy, as well as the first to divide school and church.
Its School of Engineering and Applied Sciences was the first engineering school in the United States associated with a university. Grape. it was officially included in The Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. The University, along with Jefferson's Monticello House, was named a World Heritage Site, one of three modern American places to have been honored.
It was the first campus in the world to be included by UNESCO in this list. The University of Virginia sports program is a Division I-A member and, since 1953, has been a member of the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Photo Credits: UVA website