Sunday Recap: Hoos Too Much For Hokies, Texas A&M Gets Past Florida

“I was pleased with the overall performance today,” said head coach Brian Boland. “Virginia Tech showed why they are a top-15 team, if not better. They are solid from top to bottom. We had all the momentum, winning doubles and six first sets, but they never gave up. We had to overcome a little adversity today and I was happy with how we responded to that.”

“Missing Collin and Alex (Ritschard) in singles, I was pleased with how the guys stepped up,” said Boland. “Alex is continuing to get better and is getting close to being back. Collin had a stomach bug and was able to play doubles, but not singles today. I thought the team responded well to having to reshuffle the lineup a little bit.”

April 5, 2015 – Snyder Tennis Center, Charlottesville, Va.

1. #29 Mitchell Frank (VA 14.96) def. #45 Andreas Bjerrehus (VT 13.79) 6-4, 6-4

2. #6 Ryan Shane (VA 14.60) def. #63 Amerigo Contini (VT 14.26) 6-3, 6-4

3. #10 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (VA 14.66) def. #109 Joao Monteiro (VT 13.76) 7-6 (4), 6-0

4. Hunter Koontz (VT 13.65) vs. #112 Mac Styslinger (VA 13.94) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4

5. J.C. Aragone (VA 13.95) def. Edoardo Tessaro (VT 13.29) 7-6 (3), 2-6, 6-3

6. Henrik Wiersholm (VA 13.46) def. Jai Corbett (VT 12.87) 6-1, 3-6, 6-3

1. #8 Luca Corinteli/Ryan Shane (VA) vs. #64 Andreas Bjerrehus/Hunter Koontz (VT) 7-6, unf

2. #54 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski/Mac Styslinger (VA) def. Amerigo Contini/Jai Corbett (VT) 8-5

3. Mitchell Frank/Collin Altamirano (VA) def. Joao Monteiro/Edoardo Tessaro (VT) 8-4

Virginia 16-3 overall, 8-0 ACC

Virginia Tech 15-3 overall, 7-2 ACC

Order of Finish: Doubles (2,3); Singles (3,2,1,6,5,4)

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Despite the 4-0 score this one was much, much closer.  Texas A&M took the doubles point with wins at 1 and 3 then all 6 singles matches would go to a 3rd set.  Texas A&M would sweep the bottom 3 spots with Harrison Adams, AJ Catanzariti, and Jordi Arconada winning at 4, 5, and 6.  Texas A&M’s Arthur Rinderknech was also up a break on 3 at the time of the clinch while the other 2 were even. 

Note: Harrison Adams came back from a 5-2 deficit in the 3rd and won the final 5 games to win the match.

Texas A&M recap

“Proud of the team win today and very excited to get our first road win against Florida, Texas A&M men’s tennis head coach Steve Denton said. “Gainesville is a tough place to play. With six three setters today, the final score was not indicative of how exciting and close this match really was.

“Our freshmen keep coming up big, but Harry coming back from 5-2 down in the third was the game changer today, Denton said. “Harry won three deuce points in a row. We are all so proud of his fight today. He is gaining momentum with every match and so is the rest of this Aggie team.

“We will enjoy this one today and begin getting ready for LSU starting tomorrow, Denton added. “The mantra of this team is hungry and humble and not getting ahead of ourselves. We will enjoy this one today and begin getting ready for LSU starting tomorrow.

Florida recap

Quotes from the Match – Shelton’s Notes Head Coach Bryan Shelton

On Florida’s fight against the SEC-leading Texas A&M Aggies

I thought it was good. Texas A&M came in and played a really good match from start to finish. In doubles they came out ready to play and we just started too slow out there and put ourselves in a hole, losing our serve in two first service games on Court 1 and also on Court 3. So that kind of set the tone for the doubles. We were trying to play catch up there on Court 1 and did a good job of fighting and hanging in there and trying to get back, but we just dug too big a hole there. In singles play I was really pleased. I felt like up and down the board we competed well, played well, put ourselves in good positions in sets, and it was a tight match. It’s one of those where [if] we get one our two points, we can pick those two points somewhere, I think we win a few more of those matches and we’re still out there playing right now. Like I said, hats off to Texas A&M. They’re a quality team. Not only are they talented but they compete hard and hopefully we get to see them again in a couple of weeks’ time at the SEC Tournament.

On moving forward after today’s loss

We certainly can learn from it. We’re close against a top-10 team. We’re not very far off at all so I think we can look at the positives, look at some of the things we did really well, and everybody on the court did things well. So we can focus in on those things and also look at areas where we can get a little bit better in the next week or two. Big weekend coming up with Tennessee and Kentucky, starting with Kentucky on Friday. It’ll be a tough test up there on the road and we look forward to the challenge.

Sunday, April 5, 2015 – Gainesville, FL – Scott Linder Stadium