Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
Virginia
Deacons Edged in Tight Contest at No. 1 Virginia
2/13/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeMTennis)
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- The 10th-ranked Wake Forest men's tennis team dropped a down-to-the-wire match against No. 1 Virginia, 4-3, in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships quarterfinal round at the Boar's Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Va. on Saturday.
After winning a tightly-contested doubles point, the Cavaliers claimed three-straight points to move in front, 3-1. The Deacs rallied to knot the score with a pair of wins against ranked singles opponents, but ultimately fell with a three-set loss at the No. 6 position.
In front of an energetic home crowd, host Virginia started strong in doubles with a 6-3 win by fourth-ranked Mac Styslinger and Thai-Son Kwiatkowski at No. 2. After going back and forth for 12 games at No. 1, Skander Mansouri and Christian Seraphim blanked 42nd-ranked Ryan Shane and Luca Corinteli in a tiebreaker to even the competition.
The first point of the match came down to No. 3 doubles, where Romain Bogaerts and Dennis Uspensky were down, 5-4, with the Cavaliers' J.C. Aragone serving. At match point, the Deacon duo forced Aragone's partner, Collin Altamirano, to hit a return wide to earn the break back. After the teams exchanged the ensuing two games, Bogaerts and Uspensky controlled the tiebreaker, winning, 7-3.
Wake Forest became the first team to win the doubles competition against Virginia in seven matches this season.
In singles, Virginia quickly bounced back, tying the score when No. 27-ranked Shane beat No. 28 Mansouri in two sets at the top position. The Cavaliers also received straight set wins from Aragone at No. 5 and Altamirano at No. 3 to pad their cushion, making it 3-1.
Petros Chrysochos put the Wahoos' celebration on hold with a three-set upset win over Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, the second-ranked player in the country. Chrysochos jumped out to an early lead to take the first set, 6-2, before falling, 6-3, in set two. In the final frame, the Wake Forest rookie broke Kwiatkowski early and never looked back in a 6-1 win at No. 2.
Bogaerts leveled the dual match with a win over No. 78 Styslinger. After staying on serve through eight games in the first set, Bogaerts broke Styslinger to go ahead, 5-4, en route to a 6-4 victory. The second set saw Bogaerts race out to a 5-2 lead only to have Styslinger rally to tie it at five. After regaining the lead, 6-5, the Deacon senior broke from down, 30-40, to come out on top.
The final match to finish was at No. 6, where Seraphim dropped his first set to Henrik Wiersholm. Seraphim forced a third set with a 6-3 win in the second stanza, but in the third set, three-straight service breaks led to a 5-3 Wiersholm advantage. At deuce in the next game, the Cavalier sophomore hit an ace off the net cord that dropped in to end the match.
With the victory, Virginia, the defending NCAA champion, remained unbeaten at 7-0. The Deacs fell to 8-2 on the year.
Ninth-seeded Wake Forest will finish play at the ITA Indoors on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. with a consolation match against sixth-ranked and fourth-seeded Southern California. The Demon Deacons will then play their next 11 matches at home, starting on Feb. 27 against Texas.
No. 1 Virginia 4, No. 10 Wake Forest 3
Singles competition
1. No. 27 Ryan Shane (VA) def. No. 28 Skander Mansouri (WF) 6-3, 6-1
2. No. 125 Petros Chrysochos (WF) def. No. 2 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (VA) 6-2, 3-6, 6-1
3. Collin Altamirano (VA) def. No. 79 Jon Ho (WF) 6-2, 6-3
4. Romain Bogaerts (WF) def. No. 78 Mac Styslinger (VA) 6-4, 7-5
5. J.C. Aragone (VA) def. Dennis Uspensky (WF) 6-1, 6-2
6. Henrik Wiersholm (VA) def. Christian Seraphim (WF) 6-4, 3-6, 6-3
Order of Finish: 1,5,3,2,4,6
Doubles competition
1. Skander Mansouri/Christian Seraphim (WF) def. No. 42 Ryan Shane/Luca Corinteli (VA) 7-6 (0)
2. No. 4 Mac Styslinger/Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (VA) def. Jon Ho/Petros Chrysochos (WF) 6-3
3. Romain Bogaerts/Dennis Uspensky (WF) def. J.C. Aragone/Collin Altamirano (VA) 7-6 (3)
Order of Finish: 2,1,3
Players Mentioned
