No. 5 Virginia Men's Tennis Falls to No. 1 Ohio State 4-1

The Cavalier suffered a loss to a top five team for the second weekend in a row

Olivia Taylor/Virginia Athletics

For the second weekend in a row, the Virginia men's tennis team fell to a top five team. After seeing their 29-match winning streak come to an end in a loss to Kentucky last Friday, the Cavaliers fell 4-1 to No. 1 Ohio State on Saturday afternoon at Boar's Head Sports Club. 

Virginia got off to a good start in doubles play, winning two hard-fought matches to claim the doubles point. Chris Rodesch and Bar Botzer defeated Ohio State's James Trotter and Andrew Lutschuanig 6-4 on court 1 and then Inaki Montes and Ryan Goetz outlasted Robert Cash and Justin Boulais 7-5 on court 2 to put UVA up 1-0. 

The Cavaliers could not sustain that momentum into singles play, though, as Robert Cash picked up a 6-3, 6-4 victory over UVA freshman Mans Dahlberg on court 6 to even the match at 1-1. No. 28 James Trotter defeated Virginia's Ryan Goetz 7-5, 6-3 on court 4 and then Alexander Kiefer took a set off of Ohio State's Jack Anthrop on court 6, but ultimately Anthrop prevailed 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 to make it 3-1 in favor of the Buckeyes. 

Justin Boulais clinched the match for Ohio State by rallying to pull an upset over No. 29 Chris Rodesch 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 on court 2. 

Inaki Montes came from behind to take the first set on the top court against No. 9 JJ Tracy and was leading the second set 4-3 when play was suspended. Jeffrey von der Schulenburg was also leading Alexander Bernard 2-0 in the third set of their match on court 3 when the match ended. 

Now 7-2 on the season, Virginia will compete in the 2023 ITA National Team Indoor Championships from February 17-20 at the XS Tennis Village in Chicago. The schedule and bracket matchups for the tournament have yet to be announced. 

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