Men's Tennis Blanks Baylor, Heads to Semifinals

You know that feeling when you accomplish something really good and you're excited, but then you realize that your next obstacle is your unicorn?

I'm guessing that feeling is what the Virginia men's tennis team has right now as they head into the semifinals of the NCAA tournament against their nemesis Southern Cal tonight at 6pm.

The Trojans are a familiar foe for the Cavaliers, as the two teams have faced six times in the last eight years, and four times in the last five years. The west coast villains have defeated our heroes in all four of those most recent matches, including two in the national championship match.

To get the "privilege" of facing the Trojans, Virginia had to go through the Baylor Bears, much like their female counterparts did just a few days ago. I'm thinking Baylor is going to join Notre Dame in not liking to face Virginia.

The 'Hoos had a little bit of trouble with the Bears in the doubles point, managing to pull out the win by the slightest of margins. Virginia won 8-5 at #2 doubles, before Baylor evened things up with an 8-6 win at #3. It took extra serves for the Cavaliers #1 doubles team of Alex Domijian and Mac Styslinger to to clinch the doubles point with an 8-7 (5) win.

The singles points would come a little easier for Virginia. Senior Justin Shane made it 2-0 Virginia with a 1 & 3 win at #5. His brother, sophomore Ryan Shane pulled the Cavaliers within one point of clinching with a 3 & 4 win at #3 singles. Senior Alex Domijian closed out the scoring with a 4 & 3 win at #1 singles.

Virginia led in two of the remaining three singles matches as well.

First serve of the semifinal match between #4 Virginia and #1 Southern Cal is at 6pm tonight. That's a change from the original time of 5pm because yesterday's matches ran late. If the Cavaliers manage to upset the Trojans tonight, the national championship match will be tomorrow evening at 5pm.