by Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
The Virginia Cavaliers tennis program is fast becoming one of the all-time great legendary programs.
When followers of tennis think of the great men’s college tennis programs they will often say Stanford, Southern Cal, UCLA and Georgia but you have to start saying Virginia now after the Cavaliers won their sixth NCAA team title in 2023.
The Cavaliers, the defending NCAA team champions, played their best tennis at the end of the season, shutting out No. 3-seeded Ohio State 4-0 in the NCAA team tournament final at the USTA National Campus in Orlando.
With their sixth title, the Cavaliers tie the Georgia Bulldogs for third place for most NCAA team titles won in the “team tournament” era (since 1977). Stanford has won the most NCAA team tournament titles with 15, followed by Southern Cal with nine. Virginia and Georgia now are tied for third with six and UCLA lands next with four.
After UVA coach Brian Boland engineered the first four NCAA titles for UVA in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, the last two titles have been under the stewardship of coach Andres Pedroso.
Ohio State seemed to the favorite against Virginia, having beaten them twice during the regular season. Ohio State won 4-1 in Charlottesville and blanked the Cavaliers 4-0 at the ITA National Team Indoor Championship. To boot, the Buckeyes have five singles players who qualified for the NCAA singles championship. However, the Cavaliers dominated, winning the doubles point and winning three quick singles matches to run away with the title. Jeffrey von der Schulenburg posted a 6-2, 6-1 win over JJ Tracy at No. 3 singles and Chris Rodesch gave UVA the 3-0 lead beating Justin Boulais at No. 1 singles 5-4, 6-2. Inaki Montes clinched the victory beating Cannon Kingsley 6-4, 6-2 at No. 2 singles.
Last year, the Cavaliers started the year 5-5 before going on a 23-match winning streak to claim the ACC regular season title, ACC Tournament Championship, and NCAA National Championship. In 2023, UVA won 22 consecutive victories to again win the ACC regular season and tournament titles and repeat as NCAA champions.
