With a dominant 4-0 victory over #18 Illinois, the top-ranked University of Virginia men's tennis team advanced yesterday to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tennis Tournament. It is the seventh consecutive trip to the quarterfinals for the Hoos, who will next play the host Stanford Cardinal on Saturday.
After a sweep of doubles play that took just 33 minutes, Virginia could scarcely have an easier time of it than they did in singles. Second seed Alex Domijan won 6-2, 6-2, followed quickly by #4 Jarmere Jenkins' 6-3, 6-2 victory. When Sanam Singh cruised to a 6-2, 6-4 victory at #3 singles, the sweep was complete.
"I would never say a match is easy, and Illinois fought hard tonight," said head coach Brian Boland. "We have played them three times this year and each time has been a battle. I thought our doubles play was really impressive. The guys came out and looked like they were ready to play from the get go. That then carried into singles. I was proud of the effort and it was a good start to the tournament."
The quarterfinal match against Stanford will begin at 7pm eastern on Saturday. Full results below the fold.
#1 Virginia 4, #18 Illinois 0
Doubles
1. #2 Courtney/Shabaz (UVa) def. #78 Hamui/Souza (Ill) 8-0
2. Jenkins/Uriguen (UVa) def. Alden/Nevolo (Ill) 8-2
3. Domijan/Singh (UVa) led Hoh/Singh (Ill) 7-2 DNF
Singles
1. #5 Michael Shabaz (UVa) led #15 Dennis Nevolo (Ill) 6-4, 4-1 DNF
2. #2 Alex Domijan (UVa) def. KU Singh (Ill) 6-2, 6-2
3. #34 Sanam Singh (UVa) def. #122 Roy Kalmanovich (Ill) 6-2, 6-4
4. #56 Jarmere Jenkins (UVa) def. #81 Abe Souza (Ill) 6-3, 6-2
5. Justin Shane (UVa) led #104 Johnny Hamui (Ill) 6-2, 4-5 DNF
6. Julen Uriguen (UVa) vs. Bruno Abdelnour (Ill) 6-3, 3-6 DNF
Order of Finish
Doubles: 1,2
Singles: 2,4,3