CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Virginia opened the 2014 season Friday night with a 10-0 victory against No. 46 Elon in a first-round match of the ITA Kick-Off Weekend at the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar's Head Sports Club. The Cavaliers (1-0) didn't drop a set while handing the Phoenix (1-1) their first loss of the season.
The Cavaliers will play Indiana (1-1) on Saturday in the championship match of the weekend, with the winner advancing to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships next month in Houston. The Cavaliers could advance to the ITA National Team Indoor Championships for the 10th consecutive season. Virginia has won the ITA title five of the past six seasons, including last year.
The Cavaliers opened the match sweeping all three doubles matches. Mitchell Frank teamed with Luca Corinteli for a win at No. 2 and the duo of Mac Styslinger and Thai-Son Kwiatkowski won at No. 3 to clinch the point. Justin Shane and Alex Domijan won at No. 1 in a tiebreaker to complete the sweep.
The teams played an expanded format that featured nine singles matches. Virginia won all nine matches in straight sets. Three Cavalier first-years captured victories in their first career dual match as Jordan Daigle won at No. 6, Kwiatkowski won at No. 7 and Corinteli won at No. 8. Styslinger won at No. 5 and Harrison Richmond won at No. 9 to clinch the victory for the Cavaliers. Ryan Shane was victorious at No. 3 and Domijan won at No. 2 to extend the lead to 8-0.
There was a battle of top-25 players at No. 1 where third-ranked Frank downed No. 25 Cameron Silverman 6-2, 6-5(4) to make the score 9-0 before Justin Shane closed out the shutout with his win at No. 4 in the final match on the courts.
No. 9 Kentucky 4, No. 45 BYU 0
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Kentucky defeated the BYU Cougars 4-0 on Friday afternoon at the Hilary J. Boone Varsity Tennis Center, booking its spot in the regional final of the 2014 ITA Kick-Off Lexington Regional.
In doubles, for the first time all season, sophomore Beck Pennington teamed with Alejandro Gomez, as the duo combined to win 6-1 on and give the Wildcats the early leg up in the doubles point. Newcomer Nils Ellefsen teamed up with senior Ryuji Hirooka on court three to clinch the doubles point with an easy 6-2 win. Kevin Lai and Tom Jomby were serving for the match at 5-4 when the 1-0 lead was clinched, and the match was stopped.
In singles, freshman Jerry Lopez wasted no time for Kentucky, breezing through his match, collecting a 6-3, 6-0 win to give Kentucky the commanding 2-0 lead in the match. After exchanging service breaks in the first games of the set, Lopez controlled the rest of the match, winning the last eight games of the match.
On court three, Gomez continued his hot play as of late, upping is undefeated record to 5-0 on the year, as he tallied a 6-2, 6-2 win. Gomez was in control of the match from start to finish, and gave the Wildcats the 3-0 lead.
The match was clinched in just 97 minutes from start to finish when Jomby served out a 6-4, 6-4 win on court one. Jomby got a single break each set, and was not broken during the course of the match. The win for Jomby also upped his record to 5-0 on the season.
Kentucky (5-0) with the win, advances to the Lexington Regional final, where the Wildcats will face the winner of No. 29 Notre Dame and No. 39 Minnesota on Saturday afternoon.
