Huey sneaks past Larregola in final

By Scott Ratcliffe
Published: June 8, 2008

After finishing his career as Virginia’s No. 2 player behind two-time NCAA singles champion Somdev Devvarman, it was Treat Huey’s time to shine on Sunday. The ITA All-American battled the heat and stiff competition to win the 2008 USTA State Open Clay Court Men’s Singles Championship at Glenmore Country Club.

Huey, the No. 1 seed, eliminated fellow Cavalier No. 3 Ted Angelinos in a grueling three-hour match with a 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(3) victory in Sunday morning’s semifinals to set the stage for a showdown with Virginia Tech’s Albert Larregola to decide the champion.

Angelinos, who hails from Greece, and Larregola, who grew up in Spain, had an advantage against Alexandria native Huey, as each has been playing on clay courts their whole lives.

“Growing up in the States, we don’t play as much on the clay, maybe two months out of the year,” Huey said. “I feel like Americans slip a lot more and aren’t really sure of their footing.”

Playing in 100-degree heat, Huey jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set and won 6-3, but Larregola stormed back to take the second set 6-1.

“I didn’t play bad at all [in the second set]. He stepped his game up a little and really took it to me and moved me around a little,” Huey said. “It really wore on me and I was getting a little tired.”

In the third set, the two players gave it their best effort and held serve in the first eight games.

Huey took advantage of his powerful serve to ace No. 2 seed Larregola four times in the following game, giving him a 5-4 lead. Larregola would not go quietly, again tying the set at 5-5. Facing break point, Huey won three straight points and aced Larregola to give him a 6-5 advantage.

“I had some chances to break [in the third set], but couldn’t convert them,” said Larregola. “I made a couple of big mistakes, and he took advantage.”

Larregola (the Hokies’ No. 1 as a senior in 2008) committed two unforced errors and trailed 0-30, yet again managed to knot the score at 30 all.

Huey won the next point, and Larregola had a shot just fall short of the top of the net as Huey celebrated his victory.

“In the third set, I was serving unbelievably,” said Huey. “That really helped me out to hold serve until the end, then I played a great game to break and won the match.”

Huey then teamed up with Angelinos for a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Ramon Bernal and Landon Schaefer in the men’s doubles semifinals. They will face Larregola and Ignaci Roca, who defeated Kevin Reichert and Phil Thacker 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) in the other semifinal.

The two pairs will meet in the final at 10 a.m. today.

In the women’s draw of the tournament, Tatsiana Uvarova of Richmond won the singles title with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Norfolk’s Nataly Fleishman.

Fleishman, a former Old Dominion standout and current assistant at Virginia Commonwealth University, joined Richmond’s Olga Borisova to avenge her singles loss, as the two knocked off Uvarova and Viktoriya Konstantinova for the doubles crown, 6-2, 6-4.

Virginia coach Brian Boland spoke earlier this season of how Huey always accepted his role and was the definition of a true team player.

“For four years, [Huey] has lived in the shadows of Somdev,” Boland said. “He’s broken so many records and and had so much success and he’s never complained about anything.”

Huey and Devvarman finished their Cavalier careers both ranked either first or second in all-time singles wins, dual match singles wins, ACC singles wins, doubles wins, dual match doubles wins, combined singles/doubles wins and doubles wins as a team.

Huey explained how having such a successful career and having teammates like Devvarman helped him play smart tennis and prevail in clutch situations.

“Playing with a guy like Somdev, as well as the rest of our teammates who really push us to get better, everyone does get better so it’s great.”

Huey, along with Devvarman and Angelinos, will compete over the summer in several more tournaments to continue to improve and develop his game, and hopes to give it a shot at the professional level.

“I’m really excited to get on the pro tour, travel the world and play some real big-time tennis,” he said.