Inglot, Shabaz grab title

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — Dominic Inglot and Michael Shabaz made sure the Virginia tennis team didn’t leave the NCAA Tennis Tournament empty handed.
The duo battled back from an opening-serve break to defeat No. 2 seeded Davey Sandgren and John-Patrick Smith, 3-6, 7-6 (4),
6-4 and give the Cavaliers the doubles title on the final day of play at the Mitchell Tennis Center.
It was the third straight season the Cavaliers had claimed an individual title — Somdev Devvarman won the previous two singles crowns — and helped
ease the pain somewhat of the No. 1 Cavaliers having been ousted in the
quarterfinals of the team competition a week ago.
“One of the reasons I came to Virginia was due to the fact that I knew that it was a place where I could win championships,” Inglot said. “All credit to [Virginia coach] Brian Boland. You want to be behind someone who is going to help you do that.”
The victory, which set a Virginia record for doubles wins by a team with 41, also allowed Inglot to accomplish something not many players do, win their final match as a collegian.
“I’m so happy for Dom, because it’s a great way to go out,” Shabaz said. “It eases a lot of tension from the team tournament as well, so we are as happy as we can be right now, it’s pretty sweet.”
No. 1 ranked and then-undefeated Virginia was upset by eventual national champion Southern California in the quarterfinals eight days earlier.
“To get a national championship after years of being so close means a lot to me,” Inglot said.
The Cavs’ duo had to endure the Vols’ best punch early, getting broken on Inglot’s first service game and having to go four deuces before walking off with Shabaz’s first service game.
Virginia’s only opportunity came at 5-3, but an ad was soon erased by a Smith overhead and a couple of Sandgren service winners.
“They were all over our returns and on the first game, we really should have held [up 40-love], but J.P. Smith] hit some unbelievable backhand returns down the line,” Shabaz said. “They were all over it but we didn’t feel like they could keep returning like that.”
Virginia’s serving continued to get better as the match progressed, and in the second set Tennessee never had a break point. The problem for the Cavs was they only had one and they failed to capitalize, setting up a tiebreaker.
“We didn’t have a much of a sniff on Smith’s serve all day,” Inglot said.
“He had been serving so well that I didn’t know if he had a break point the whole time. It was just basically hit it or miss.”
In the tiebreaker, the Cavaliers got the break they needed when Smith sent a backhand volley wide on Sandgren’s serve. Inglot and Shabaz were never in trouble on their serve and a Smith backhand error squared the match at a set a piece.
Virginia broke Sandgren to go up 1-2, winning on a Sandgren backhand error that ended one the longest points of the match.
The No. 2 seeded Vols were unable to make a dent in the Virginia serve the rest of the way, getting to 30-40 once, on Inglot’s serve the game after the Cavs broke.
“They served extremely well today, especially for an outdoors tennis match,” Sandgren said. “They played a good game to break me in the third. They came up big today.”
Inglot later won his serve at 15 and Shabaz capped off the magnificent display of serving with and ace and three service winners to close out the match.
Aces
The doubles title was the first ever by an ACC men’s team. ... Virginia was the first unseeded team to claim a doubles title since 2003… The Cavs won the only other meeting between the two teams, defeating andgren and Smith 8-5 in the UVa Ranked Plus One Invitational ... Virginia defeated the No. 1 seeds from Mississippi and No. 5-8 seeded Pepperdine on the way to the final.