Cavs stay unbeaten, wrap up ACC title

By Whitey Reid

Published: April 20, 2008

Nobody on the Virginia men’s tennis team is going to be satisfied with anything less than an NCAA championship this season.
But that by no means diminished the excitement of Sunday afternoon’s events in Altamonte, Fla.
Virginia defeated Miami 4-0 to win its second straight ACC championship, its fourth in the last five years.
“We came out today knowing we had to play a lot better today because Miami had been playing really well these last few days,” said Treat Huey, who was named tournament MVP. “Everyone came out and played great today. We’re playing some great tennis right now. It’s great to get the ACC crown.”
No. 1 Virginia (28-0), which heads into the NCAA Tournament undefeated for the second straight season, saved its best performance for the final day of the four-day event.
UVa, which had previously beaten N.C. State and Wake Forest by identical 4-1 scores to advance to the finals, opened the match strong by winning the doubles point.
At No. 2 doubles, Michael Shabaz and Dominic Inglot rebounded from a 5-2 deficit by winning six consecutive games for an 8-5 win over Vivek Subramanian and David Rosenfeld.
“It was a great effort by Michael and Dom,” said Virginia coach Brian Boland, “because being down two breaks in an eight-game pro set is a tough situation to be in.”
Lee Singer and Ted Angelinos clinched the point with an 8-3 win at No. 3 doubles over Hector Nieto and Keith Crowley.
Virginia kept the momentum going into singles, winning three quick matches to clinch the title.
Huey, who was first off the courts for the second straight day, topped Subramanian 6-2, 6-1 at No. 2 singles.
“Come tournament time, I think my experience really helps me,” Huey said. “I’m just playing real solid and not making as many errors as I usually do.
“The courts were kind of slow because the weather was pretty humid down there the last few days. Everybody on our team is so fit and I think that was a big key to our success.”
Boland was very happy for Huey, one of two seniors in his lineup (Somdev Devvarman).
“Here’s a young man who for the last several years has meant so much to our program and hasn’t always gotten the attention or recognition that he deserves,” Boland said. “He was really the difference for us all weekend.”
It was the freshman Shabaz who brought the Cavaliers within a point of victory as he completed a 6-3, 6-1 win over Crowley at No. 5 singles. A short time later, Angelinos clinched the title as he downed Barnabas Carrega 6-3, 6-2 at No. 6 singles.
“It’s always an enormous accomplishment to win an ACC championship because there’s so much depth,” Boland said. “We couldn’t be more pleased.
“I’m really proud of the guys. They prepared really well all week and went about playing the right away and it paid off.”
Miami (16-7) lost to UVa for the second time this year. The Cavs were victorious, 7-0, in a March 28 meeting in Charlottesville.
With Sunday’s win, Virginia earned the ACC’s automatic bid for the NCAA Tournament. The field of 64 will be announced on April 29.
“We definitely have one more goal that we want to accomplish,” said Huey, alluding to an NCAA crown. “There are little things here and there that we need to work on so that hopefully we’ll be playing our best tennis when NCAA’s start.”
Aces
Virginia, expected to be tabbed as a No. 1 seed, will likely host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament that begin May 9. …UVa extended its school record winning streak to 28 matches overall and 31 straight against ACC opponents (regular season and postseason). The Cavaliers also improved to 14-1 at the ACC Tournament since 2004. …In No. 1 singles, Devvarman led Daniel Vallverdu. He won the first set, 7-5, before play was halted.