No. 1 UVa rolls past FSU

By Whitey Reid

Published: March 30, 2008

On three occasions during his match against Florida State’s Brad Mixson on Sunday, Virginia’s Ted Angelinos was in clear disagreement with calls that were made by Mixson and subsequently upheld by the linesman.
Another time, Angelinos’ match was delayed after one of the court’s balls could not be located.
However, the fiery senior from Greece didn’t let any of that stuff get to him. In fact, by the end of the match, it was Mixson who was slamming his racket into a courtside chair.
Angelinos, a transfer from Tulane, continued his strong play with a 6-3, 6-1 victory that clinched a 6-1 victory for No. 1 Virginia over No. 10 FSU in front of a jam-packed crowd at the Boyd Tinsley Courts.
“Teddy’s been around the block and knows how to compete and deal with adversity,” said Virginia coach Brian Boland, whose team improved to a perfect 21-0. “When he first came here, that was a huge concern of mine.”
Angelinos is a surprising 16-0 this spring. He said he used the calls that went against him as motivation.
“I was a little rusty in the beginning of the match,” Angelinos said, “but I was able to pick it up. The bad calls really [ticked] me off.”
Angelinos is one of three undefeated Virginia players. The other two —Somdev Devvarman and Sanam Singh — also had fairly easy victories.
Playing at No. 1 singles, Devvarman (the No. 1 player in the country), defeated Jean-Yves Aubone, 6-1, 6-4. Singh, in the No. 4 slot, downed Macjek Sykut, 6-1, 6-2.
In No. 2 singles, Treat Huey knocked off Clint Bowles, 6-2, 6-3; freshman Michael Shabaz beat Chris Cloer, 6-4, 6-4 in No. 5 singles.
Dominic Inglot was the only Cav to lose. The London native got nipped, 7-6, 6-4, by Sam Chang in No. 3 singles.
“Chang played real well,” Boland said. “He’s certainly one of their three best players. We knew he’d be tough. Dom was right there, but it just got away.”
Just like it did in its 7-0 cakewalk over Miami on Friday, Virginia (21-0, 7-0) got off on the right foot in doubles, sweeping all three matches to earn the point.
The new tandem of Inglot and Shabaz won its second straight match in the No. 2 slot, defeating Chang/Sykut, 8-1.
“We talked all week about the importance of the doubles point,” Huey said. “It’s such a key for our team and Dom and Michael have been great together. They’re playing some great tennis.”
Florida State coach Dwayne Hultquist said he knew his team might be in for a tough day after it lost the doubles point.
“If you want to beat Virginia, you probably have to win that,” Hultquist said. “They have a lot of strong players. They showed that they are very deserving of being No. 1 in the country. They have a great chance to win the NCAA’s.”
Boland is being careful not to look that far ahead.
“We don’t want to peak yet,” said Boland, whose team dropped only two sets all weekend. “Until the postseason, we have a lot of things to work on. We just have to stay the course and get ready for UNC and Duke next weekend.”