Virginia Men's Tennis Wins 4-3 Thriller at No. 3 Texas in Semifinal Rematch

The two-time reigning champions earned an early statement win, going on the road and taking down the third-ranked Longhorns in Austin
Virginia Men's Tennis Wins 4-3 Thriller at No. 3 Texas in Semifinal Rematch
Virginia Men's Tennis Wins 4-3 Thriller at No. 3 Texas in Semifinal Rematch /

The two-time reigning national champions have a long journey ahead of them to defend their title, but the Cavaliers just passed their first significant test with flying colors. The No. 1 Virginia men's tennis team went on the road and made a big-time statement by taking down No. 3 Texas in a thrilling 4-3 victory on Thursday night in Austin. 

In an intriguing early-season matchup between top contenders, this meeting represented a rematch of the 2023 NCAA semifinals, when the Cavaliers knocked off No. 1 seed Texas 4-1 en route to capturing their second-consecutive national championship. The Longhorns were certainly looking for a little revenge and had a prime opportunity to do just that on their home court, but Virginia denied them once again. 

UVA picked up the doubles point despite falling behind as its team of James Hopper and Edoardo Graziani was swept by Eliot Spizzirri and Cleeve Harper. Chris Rodesch and Jeffrey von der Schulenburg knocked off Texas' Pierre-Yves Bailly and Siem Woldeab 6-4 to even things up and then Dylan Dietrich and Alexander Kiefer clinched the doubles point for Virginia with a 7-5 victory over Gilles-Arnaud Bailly and Micah Braswell. 

Pierre-Yves Bailly quickly knotted up the overall score at 1-1 by beating Graziani 6-1, 6-1 on court 4 in singles action, but Virginia answered as Chris Rodesch earned the most impressive singles victory of his career. Rodesch, the No. 22-ranked singles player, took down the nation's No. 1-ranked singles player Eliot Spizzirri 6-3, 6-3 on the top court. Spizzirri was the 2023 ITA National Player of the Year. 

Court 2 went to the Longhorns as No. 2 Micah Braswell defeated No. 26 Jeffrey von der Schulenburg 6-4, 6-3, but the Cavaliers regained a 3-2 lead behind a 6-3, 6-3 win by Mans Dahlberg over No. 28 Jonah Braswell on court 6, the highest-ranked win of Dahlberg's collegiate career. Gilles-Arnaud Bailly outlasted Virginia's Dylan Dietrich 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) to tie things up at 3-3, leaving the match to be decided on court 5, where Alexander Kiefer battled Siem Woldeab to a third set. 

Kiefer won a tiebreaker to claim the first set, but Woldeab dominated the second set, and then Kiefer recovered and won the third set handily to pick up a 7-6 (7-5), 2-6, 6-2 victory to secure the clinching point for Virginia. 

UVA has had Texas' number in head-to-head meetings, as this marked the eighth-consecutive win in the series for the Cavaliers, who own a 12-2 all-time record against Texas. Virginia has won its last 25 dual matches and hasn't lost an outdoor match since the 2021 NCAA Tournament. 

“Congrats to Texas for a really hard fought match. This match could have gone either way but our guys just hung tough and found a way to win a few more points," said Virginia head coach Andres Pedroso. "The goal is always to fight until the end like the close, united team that we are. That’s what our Wahoos did tonight. We will enjoy this one tonight and get back to work tomorrow in Cville.”

Virginia doesn't have much time to recover before facing another top five opponent as No. 5 South Carolina comes to Charlottesville on Sunday at 1pm at Boar's Head Sports Club. 

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.