Cavs roll through first round

Virginia sophomore Sanam Singh remembers the day last season when coach Brian Boland told him he would be playing doubles with teammate Houston Barrick.

“It was kind of random,” Singh said. “Coach thought it would be a good pairing because Houston is really good at the net and I like playing from the baseline.

“We started playing together and jelled really well, [but] I didn’t think we would do as well as we [have].”

“Once we started to figure out trends and what the other was doing,” added Barrick, “we never looked back.”

On Friday afternoon at the Snyder Tennis Center, Singh and Barrick, as they have all year, dominated their opponents. The duo’s 8-3 victory over Jason Hill and Nick Birger at No. 2 doubles paved the way for an easy 4-0 triumph over Navy in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

With the victory, No. 1-seeded Virginia (30-0) remained undefeated and advanced to a second round match against North Carolina at 1 p.m. today. The Tar Heels were an easy 4-0 winner over South Carolina on Friday.

“It was great to get out and compete again after almost a three-week layoff,” said Boland, whose team notched its third consecutive 30-win season. “I thought we responded pretty well.

“The guys have been excited about this tournament for a while. The anticipation was there and we played well.”

Singh and Barrick, who tied Somdev Devvarman and Treat Huey’s record for most doubles wins in a season with 38, have come a long way. At times last season, they weren’t even one of Virginia’s top three doubles tandems. This season, they’ve risen to as high as No. 2 in the country and are currently No. 13.

“That’s pretty impressive to go from outside the lineup and then being No. 2 in the country,” Boland said. “You don’t see that often — making such great strides in such a short amount of time.

“Their chemistry is great on the court and they’re both very aggressive. They both complement each other very well.”

Singh and Barrick are a major reason why Virginia has dropped just two doubles points the entire season (to UCLA and Duke). Their play has consistently set the tone for the singles matches, which was once again the case on Friday.

After winning the doubles point, UVa made quick work of Patriot League champion Navy (18-8).

At No. 3 singles, sophomore Michael Shabaz beat Marcus Rebersak, 6-2, 6-2, while Singh took care of Johnny Waters, 6-0, 6-4, at No. 2.

Freshman Drew Courtney clinched the duel win with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Ramsey Lemaich at No. 5.

The match lasted just over two hours.

“Virginia is the class of the ACC,” said Navy coach John Officer. “We had played North Carolina and Clemson and they were good teams, but the thing that Virginia does so well is that they serve very, very well.

“They also play defense very well. You don’t get a lot of easy points against Virginia.”

Virginia, which made it to the Final Four last year before losing a heartbreaker to Georgia, has already beaten North Carolina rather easily, twice — once during the regular season and once in the recent ACC tournament.

But Barrick says the team has worked too hard to take anyone lightly.

“Any Carolina team is going to fight hard,” he said. “They’re going to be prepared and they’ve seen us twice already…they’re going to come out fighting. We have to be ready and have to bring our ‘A’ game because they’re going to be ready to come get us.”

Aces

Boland elected to sit Barrick in the singles action so that he could give freshman Steven Eelkman Rooda some experience. Eelkman Rooda was leading Hill, 7-6, 0-0 when play was halted. … Alex Inglot, the older brother of Dom Inglot, was not in his much-hyped Cavalier costume that he had promised. Sources say he will be in full garb for today’s match. … A crowd of 357 was on hand.