Virginia sews up crown

By Whitey Reid

Published: April 11, 2008

Friday was a beautiful, picturesque day at the Snyder Tennis Center. There was a nice-sized crowd. Virginia media relations man Steve Kirkland provided his usual NBA-style player introductions.
But something was missing.
The No. 1 Virginia men didn’t have their usual pep. UVa wound up beating No. 49 N.C. State, 5-2, to claim its fifth straight ACC regular-season championship, however, Cavalier coach Brian Boland didn’t seem very pleased about it.
Well after the match had been completed, Boland could be seen huddling with his team. There didn’t appear to be the usual post-match giddiness that has become a hallmark of this year’s undefeated squad.
“I would like to take the opportunity to tell the fans that they will see a much better effort on Sunday [against Wake Forest],” Boland said.
Virginia may have been affected by a flu bug that rifled through the team and didn’t allow some players to practice during the week, but Boland didn’t want to use that as an excuse.
“Give N.C. State credit,” Boland said. “They played a great match.”
Virginia (24-0, 10-0 ACC) swept doubles, but had to sweat a little bit for a change.
Somdev Devvarman and Treat Huey rallied from down an early break to top James McGee and Christian Welte 8-6 at No. 1 doubles. At the No. 2 position, Dominic Inglot and Michael Shabaz also came back from down a break to top Nick Cavaday and David Chermak 9-7. Lee Singer and Ted Angelinos completed the sweep with a 9-8 win over Jay Weinacker and Derek Stephens.
In singles, Devvarman, Huey, Michael Shabaz and Houston Barrick were victorious. Huey’s match was a lot closer than expected. He needed a third-set tiebreaker to dispose of Cavaday.
Barrick was in the lineup in place of Ted Angelinos, who along with Sanam Singh, were the two players most under the weather.
Inglot - who sat out last Sunday’s win over Duke with the flu - lost in straight sets to Weinacker.
Barrick turned in one of the day’s more impressive efforts. Utilizing a strong first serve, he beat Chermak, 6-0, 6-3. Barrick held serve the entire match.
“I think that was a huge difference,” Barrick said. “Usually I get broken once or twice. That’s the biggest key to my game. I hadn’t played a singles match in a while, so I was a little rusty at first, but once I got used to it, I settled in and played well.”
Boland is hoping his guys can bring the same kind of energy that Barrick did come Senior Day on Sunday.
“I think a lot will depend on us having a good practice [today] and feeling fresh,” Boland said.
“I know it’s hard for the guys. They’ve been playing through an imperfect situation, but we’ll be all right.”