UVa repeats as National Indoor champion

In recent Virginia sports history, there hasn’t been a team as successful or as dominant as the men’s tennis squad.

And on Monday afternoon in Chicago, coach Brian Boland’s bunch put another notch on its belt.

Virginia won its second straight National Team Indoor Championship, defeating Georgia 4-1 in the final.

UVa improved to 12-0 on the season while handing the Bulldogs (8-1) their first defeat of the season. The Cavaliers also got a little bit of revenge for last spring’s ouster in the NCCA Tournament semifinals at the hands of Georgia.

“This was a great match, what a championship match should be,” said Boland, whose squad became the first ACC team to win a tennis national team championship when it took the indoors last season. “Both Virginia and Georgia fought the whole match and gave it everything they had. I am so proud of this team and I am proud to be national champions again.”

Undefeated Virginia, which hosts Boise State and Boston College on Saturday at the Boar’s Head Sports Club, took a 1-0 lead by winning a tight doubles point.

After Michael Shabaz and Dominic Inglot won 8-4 over Christian Vitulli and Borja Malo at No. 2 doubles, the Cavaliers needed to win one of the other two matches, both of which went to a tiebreaker.

At No. 1, third-ranked Houston Barrick and Sanam Singh topped Nate Schnugg and Jamie Hunt, 9-8, to clinch the opening point. “That doubles point was critical today,” Boland said. “We knew it was going to be a battle in singles, which it was, so getting the doubles point was key.”

In singles, the Cavaliers doubled their lead as Barrick downed Malo 6-4, 6-0 at the No. 4 position. The Bulldogs got on the board at No. 1 singles where Schnugg defeated Inglot 6-3, 6-4 to make the score

2-1.

Virginia extended its lead to 3-1 when Steven Eelkman Rooda completed a 6-3, 6-2 win over Drake Bernstein at No. 5 singles.

The match was clinched at No. 6 singles by freshman Drew Courtney, who rallied for a 0-6, 6-0, 7-5 win over Josh Varela. Courtney shook of some early struggles and rallied to force a third set.

The final set was tied 5-5 when Courtney broke Varela before closing out the match on his serve.

“In the first set, I was playing tight and was not hitting shots well,” Courtney said. “He was playing well and I was letting him take control of the points. After that set, I brushed it off and decided to be more aggressive. I tried to put the pressure on him and that seemed to work.

“In the final set, we both were playing our best and it was a matter of who wanted it more. I was able to hit some big shots when I needed them in order to win some key points at the end.”

Courtney and the bottom of Virginia’s singles lineup really came through.

“We have been so strong at No. 1, 2, and 3 all season, but Georgia has some firepower at the top of their lineup as well,” Boland said.

“The guys at the bottom played so well

and our first-years at No. 5 and 6 stepped up big today. They have developed so much in a short time and carried us to this win.”