University of North Carolina Athletics
Tar Heels Fall To Top-Ranked Virginia
February 20, 2017 | Men's Tennis
Playing in front of a home crowd at Boar's Head Sports Club, Virginia took a quick 1-0 lead with a pair of 6-1 victories in doubles play. Blaine Boyden and Simon Soendergaard fell to Virginia's Collin Altamirano and J.C. Aragone on court three. Right beside them, at No. 2, seniors Jack Murray and Ronnie Schneider were defeated by Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and Alexander Ritschard.
The Cavaliers carried the momentum into singles play and picked up the first set on all six courts. Carl Soderlund quickly pushed the Virginia lead to 2-0, defeating UNC's Soendergaard 6-2, 6-1 on court three.
After dropping his first set 6-0 on court one, Schneider battled to an early second-set lead against Altamirano. But the Virginia junior outlasted Schneider, winning the second set 6-3 and putting the Cavaliers one point away from clinching the match and earning a trip to the finals.
On courts two and four, junior Robert Kelly and freshman William Blumberg each dropped their first sets but rallied to push their matches into third sets. Blumberg led No. 28 Kwiatkowski 4-2 in the third set, and Kelly was serving to tie his final set at 4-4 when the Virginia's Alex Ritschard defeated Murray on court five. After losing the first set 6-3, Murray fought to a tiebreak for his second set. But Ritschard closed out the set 7-6(4), sending the Cavaliers, five-time winners of the tournament, to Monday's final.
Next up, the Tar Heels take a trip to Nashville, Tenn., to face Vanderbilt Feb. 27 at 2:00 p.m.
#1 Virginia 4, #5 North Carolina 0
Doubles Results
Order of match finish: (3, 2)
1. #55 Corinteli/Soderlund (VA) vs. #21 Blumberg/Kelly (UNC) 5-2, unfinished
2. Murray/Schneider (UNC) vs. Kwiatkowski/Ritschard (VA) def. Murray/Schneider (UNC) 6-1
3. Altamirano/Aragone (VA) def. Boyden/Soendergaard (UNC) 6-1
Singles results
Order of match finish: (3, 1, 5)
1. Collin Altamirano (VA) def. #16 Ronnie Schneider (UNC) 6-0, 6-3
2. William Blumberg (UNC) vs. #28 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (VA) 3-6, 6-3, 4-2, unfinished
3. Carl Soderlund (VA) def. Simon Soendergaard (UNC) 6-2, 6-1
4. Robert Kelly (UNC) vs. #64 J.C. Aragone (VA) 2-6, 6-4, 3-4, unfinished
5. Alexander Ritschard (VA) def. Jack Murray (UNC) 6-3, 7-6(4)
6. Blaine Boyden (UNC) vs. Henrik Wiersholm (VA) 6(5)-7, 5-2
Records: UNC 11-1, Virginia 8-0
Players Mentioned
