Men's Tennis Falls 7-0 to No. 2 Virginia in ACC Opener

Friday, March 4

LOUISVILLE, KY.

5 PM

University of Louisville

Virginia

Men's Tennis Falls 7-0 to No. 2 Virginia in ACC Opener

March 04, 2016 | Men's Tennis

Cards force three-set matches on singles courts 2, 4 and 6 but fall to No. 2 Virginia

The University of Louisville men's tennis team fell to second-ranked Virginia 7-0 in the Cards' ACC opener Friday evening at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center.

Virginia (9-2) used wins on courts one and two to take the first point of the match. On court two, Virginia's sixth-ranked duo of Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and Mac Styslinger beat Louisville freshmen Christopher Morin-Kougoucheff and George Hedley 6-1 to give the Cavaliers an early edge. UVA's seventh-ranked pair of Luca Corinteli and Ryan Shane defeated Louisville seniors Alex Gornet and Jeffrey Brown 6-4 at the two-spot. On court three, Louisville junior Sean Donohue and freshman Christian Haushammer were tied 4-4 with J.C. Aragon and Henrik Wiersholm when the point was clinched.

In singles action, Virginia's third-ranked Kwiatkowski defeated Brown 6-3, 6-4 at No. 3 to put the Cavaliers on top 2-0. UVA's Shane, No. 14 in the national singles rankings, topped Gornet 6-1, 6-2 at the No. 1 spot. The match was decided on court five where Aragone registered a 6-0, 6-2 win over Donohue to make the score 4-0.

On court six, Haushammer split sets with Harrison Richmond, losing the first set 6-3, but rebounding for a 6-4 win in the second, but Richmond claimed the third set 6-3 to give the Cavaliers a 5-0 lead. At the four-spot, Hedley jumped to an early advantage over Styslinger with a 6-0 first-set victory, and had match point in the second set, but Styslinger prevailed 7-6 to force a third set which he went on to win 6-2. The match ended on court two where Virginia's Collin Altamirano beat Morin-Kougoucheff 6-2 in the first set, but the Louisville freshman fought back for a 6-4 win in the second. The two battled to a 6-6 tie with Morin-Kougoucheff at match point in the third set before Altamirano got the 7-6 edge for the win.

"I wanted to be competitive and put ourselves in a position to win four points," said UofL head coach Rex Ecarma. "Virginia is a national championship team with every starter back except one. We knew it was unrealistic that we would win 7-0, but I thought we could compete and get ourselves in position to win four points. Kougoucheff had match point, Hedley also had match point. We were tied at No. 3 doubles when the match was over and we barely lost No. 1 doubles. Christian Haushammer got it to the third set, and got off-script a little bit, he tried to get back on, but was a little bit too late – his opponent played some big points well. So, to me, there were four points out there that we could have won. But we just couldn't finish it tonight."

The Cardinals (7-6) will continue ACC play at Notre Dame on Sunday.

#2 Virginia 7, Louisville Men's Tennis 0
Mar 04, 2016 at Louisville, Ky.
(Bass-Rudd Tennis Center)
Singles
1. #14 Ryan Shane (VA) def. Alex Gornet (LOU-MT) 6-1, 6-2
2. #29 Collin Altamirano (VA) def. C. Morin-Kougoucheff (LOU-MT) 6-2, 4-6, 7-6
3. #3 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (VA) def. Jeffrey Brown (LOU-MT) 6-3, 6-4
4. Mac Styslinger (VA) def. George Hedley (LOU-MT) 0-6, 7-6, 6-2
5. J.C. Aragone (VA) def. #111 Sean Donohue (LOU-MT) 6-0, 6-2
6. Harrison Richmond (VA) def. Christian Haushammer (LOU-MT) 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
Doubles
1. #7 Ryan Shane/Luca Corinteli (VA) def. Alex Gornet/Jeffrey Brown (LOU-MT) 6-4
2. #6 Thai-Son Kwiatkowski/Mac Styslinger (VA) def. C. Morin-Kougoucheff/George Hedley (LOU-MT) 6-1
3. Sean Donohue/Christian Haushammer (LOU-MT) vs. #29 J.C. Aragone/Henrik Wiersholm (VA) 4-4, unfinished

Match Notes:
Virginia 9-2; National ranking #2
Louisville Men's Tennis 7-6
Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (3,1,5,6,4)