Cavaliers stop Seminoles in NCAA tournament

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Some early preparation made for a strong finish in Virginia’s 4-2 victory over Florida State on the first day of the NCAA men’s tennis championships.

Virginia arrived on Sunday, four days before its round of 16 match at the Mitchell Tennis Center on the campus of Texas A&M. UVa coach Brian Boland said the victory justified the early arrival.

“Absolutely, I think that helped,” he said. “We wanted to get here as quickly as we could after playing North Carolina on Saturday afternoon. We had never been down here — it was new to us, so the sooner we could get acclimated, used to the environment, the better.

“It should be an advantage throughout the tournament.”

The tournament continues for the No. 1-ranked Cavaliers at 1 p.m. Saturday when they play No. 8 Southern Cal, a 4-2 winner over Pac-10 rival Stanford.

Sophomore Michael Shabaz clinched Virginia’s 32nd victory in as many matches, outlasting No. 16 Florida State’s Maciek Sykut, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.

“I broke him and I had the wind and I knew if I could get up on him early, I thought I could roll,” Shabaz said of the deciding set. “I got up 5-1 and then just kept plugging away. Any third set, if you can get up early, it’s just going to give you a lot of confidence.”

With Lee Singer having just lost 6-3 in the second and Shabaz at 1-1 in the third, Boland said he was confident with his No. 3, despite the fact he was playing the Seminoles all-time winningest player in Sykut.

“Michael’s fitness level is unbelievable,” Boland said. “I’ve trained with him over the last few weeks and he’s unbelievably fit, playing well and moving his feet. When you go into a third set you feel pretty good when you have Michael Shabaz on the court.”

Shabaz broke Sykut three times in the final set, with all three games ending with an unforced error by the Noles’ senior.

“It was tough conditions with the wind swirling,” Shabaz said. “I tried to stay steady toward the end, use my legs a little bit to make him work, and I guess I made enough balls and put enough pressure on him to win the set.”

After winning two of the three doubles matches for the first point, Virginia went up 2-0 with a 6-4, 6-2 victory by Drew Courtney over Drew Bailey.

Courtney held his serve throughout to end Bailey’s eight-match win streak and extend his own run to 10 match victories.

“Drew has been great a freshman from the state of Virginia that’s been a reliable point for us,” Boland said. “He gave us a big boost there. I thought that was a momentum-changer that we needed at the time. The match was getting close and Drew helped us out getting that second point.”

Florida State notched its first point on No. 1, with 20th-ranked Jean-Yves Aubone taking out No, 14 Dominic Inglot 6-4, 6-3. Aubone took the season series 2-1 between the two No. 1s. He closed out the first set with a break of Inglot and had a net cord on his serve to close out the match.

Sanam Singh put the Cavs one step away from the quarterfinals with a 7-5, 6-2 victory at No. 2. Singh closed out Clint Bowles with a break of serve for his ninth straight victory.

“One key was, they won two matches somewhat handily and we really only won one that way,” Florida State coach Dwayne Hultquist said. “What makes Virginia so good is its No. 3 player is ranked No. 27 in the country and [its] doubles and 2 and 3 are a good strength for them.”

FSU remained in the match at No. 4 with Vahid Mirzadeh winning in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4 to close the gap to 3-2. The first set was a marathon, with Mirzadeh getting a break at 4-2 in a game that reached double digits in deuces.

Mirzadeh finished off Houston Barrick in the first set at love and then went up two breaks in the second set.

At No. 6, Lee Singer and FSU’s Chris Cloer split sets and were at 1-1 in the third when Cloer started suffering leg cramps.

The Cavs won the doubles point with wins on the Nos. 1 and 2 line. Inglot and Shabaz cruised to an 8-3 victory, breaking Mirzadeh three times at No. 1. Barrick and Singh won 8-6 at No. 2 after Bowles and Cloer won for FSU at No. 3.

It was Virginia’s third victory of the season over the Seminoles, who are one of only five teams to push the Cavs to 4-3.

“It’s tough to beat a team three times in a year, as good as Florida State is. We’re proud of it,” Boland said. “We have so much respect for them. We knew it would be a tremendous challenge, and it was.”