No. 8 UVA Men's Tennis Picks Up Big 4-2 Win at No. 12 Kentucky

The Cavaliers took down the Wildcats on the road for a major non-conference victory on Thursday night

Photo courtesy of Virginia Athletics Communications

No. 8 Virginia men's tennis faced a tough challenge as the Cavaliers played at No. 12 Kentucky on Thursday night in Lexington. The Wahoos had their hands full with the Wildcats, who won the doubles point to open the match. But, UVA delivered several impressive performances in singles play and managed to knock off Kentucky 4-2 on its home court at the Hilary J. Boone Tennis Complex. 

Chris Rodesch and Bar Botzer won their doubles match 6-3, but Kentucky answered on court 1 as Millen Hurrion and Francois Musitelli defeated Inaki Montes and Ryan Goetz 6-4. In the deciding match on court 3, Liam Draxl and Alexandre LeBlanc outlasted Gianni Ross and Jeffrey von der Schulenburg by winning a 10-8 tiebreaker to claim the 7-6 win and the doubles point for the Wildcats. 

The Cavaliers bounced back from the setback by taking the first three points in singles play. No. 75 Ryan Goetz took down No. 61 Francois Musitelli in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2 to tie the match at one point apiece. On court 2, No. 16 Chris Rodesch won a hard-fought first set 7-6, dropped the second set to Millen Hurrion 3-6, but then came back and won the third set 6-3 to give the Cavaliers the lead. 

The match on court 3 was a pivotal moment in the contest. Kentucky's Gabriel Diallo, the No. 9-ranked men's singles player in the country, faced No. 59 Jeffrey von der Schulenburg. Diallo took the first set 6-3, but von der Schulenburg rallied to win the second set 7-5 and the deciding third set 6-4 to pull the upset. 

Kentucky's Liam Draxl upset No. 29 Inaki Montes 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 on court 1 to make it 3-2 in favor of UVA, but Bar Botzer knocked off Joshua Lapadat 6-1, 6-4 on court 5 to clinch the victory for the Cavaliers. 

With the win, Virginia improves to 15-5 overall and extends its winning streak to ten games. Up next, UVA looks to remain perfect in ACC play as the Cavaliers head to Florida next weekend for a pair of matches against Florida State and Miami, two teams who are ranked just outside of the top 25. Virginia plays at Florida State next Friday (4/8) at 5:30pm and at Miami next Sunday (4/10) at 1pm. 

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