Virginia Men's Tennis Knocks Off No. 1 Texas to Advance to NCAA Title Match
![](https://www.si.com/.image/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/MTk4MDg2MTM4NDk2Mjk2MTI2/alexander-kiefer-vs-texas.jpg)
The Cavaliers will have a chance to defend their national title.
The No. 5 seed Virginia men's tennis team knocked off the No. 1 overall seed Texas Longhorns 4-1 in the semifinals of the NCAA Men's Tennis Championship on Saturday afternoon at the USTA National Campus in Orlando to advance to Sunday's National Championship match. UVA will face No. 3 seed Ohio State in the finals on Sunday at 12pm.
One day after taking down taking down No. 4 seed Kentucky 4-2 in the quarterfinals in a thrilling match that required two days to complete due to a weather delay, the Cavaliers came out of the gates strong and clinched the doubles point against the Longhorns thanks to a pair of 6-1 wins by the teams of Chris Rodesch/Jeffrey von der Schulenburg and Ryan Goetz/Alex Kiefer.
Texas tied things up to start singles play as UVA's Jeffrey von der Schulenburg fell to Micah Braswell 6-2, 6-1 on court 3. Virginia regained the lead as freshman Mans Dahlberg, who had the clinching point in the quarterfinals against Kentucky, earned a straight-set 6-3, 6-2 win over Nevin Arimilli on court 6.
Ryan Goetz rallied after losing the first set to beat Siem Woldeab 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 to give the Cavaliers a 3-1 lead. Alex Kiefer had the honors of clinching the victory for Virginia, as he too bounced back after dropping the first set to take down Cleeve Harper 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 on court 5.
ALEX KIEFER WITH CLINCH #NCAAMTEN #GoHoos ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/sI7grfN7gv
— Virginia Men's Tennis (@UVAMensTennis) May 20, 2023
Chris Rodesch was leading his third set against Eliot Spizzirri 5-3 and Inaki Montes was up 3-0 in the third set on Pierre-Yves Bailly when Kiefer ended the match.
Virginia (29-4) will carry a 21-match winning streak into the National Championship as the Cavaliers look to go back-to-back and clinch their sixth national title. No. 5 seed UVA will face No. 3 seed Ohio State on Sunday at 12pm for the 2023 NCAA Men's Tennis National Championship.
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