The scintillating, effortless and downright dominant performances haven’t appeared very often for the Virginia men’s tennis team and its five starting freshmen this season.
But Friday’s match against Boston College (5-6, 0-2) reassured Wahoo fans of the capable hands the future of the UVa tennis program rests in, as it fashioned a 5-2 victory that had head coach Andres Pedroso grinning ear to ear.
“These guys are practicing hard, they’re competing hard, getting along great, culture’s great — in those areas, we’re doing unbelievable,” he said post-match. “It’s just a matter of time the win/loss column starts going in our favor a little more.”
Although the outdoor season began in Virginia’s last home match, the anything but predictable weather pattern in Central Virginia deemed the Snyder Tennis Center too chilly to play on Friday.
The Boar’s Head Sports Club warmly opened its doors, and the Cavaliers (8-5, 1-1 ACC) thoroughly entertained its patrons to their first ACC victory of the season.
Junior Aswin Lizen and freshman Gianni Ross began the afternoon with a 6-2 victory at No. 1 doubles that took nearly no time at all to complete. No. 3 doubles fell just after, but the combo of sophomore Carl Soderlund and freshman Matthew Lord carried Virginia home to the doubles point with their 7-5 victory.
Lord was able to carry over his exploits to his singles match, while Soderlund was a late pull in the lineup due to an injury that has nagged him for much of the spring season.
Lord’s play at No. 4 singles appeared to be in direct response to his cohort being unable to finish the match out. And with what he says about the group at large, it wouldn’t be a surprise.
“This team is probably the closest team in the country, to be honest,” Lord said. “We all love playing for each other.”
It was expressed as tough love to BC’s Kent Mukai — Lord downed him 6-2, 6-1 to give Virginia an early 2-0 lead.
Winning four out of his last five singles matches, Lord has seen great progression in his young career as a ‘Hoo. After a noteworthy fall season, where he posted eight singles wins and a runner-up doubles finish in the Atlantic Regional doubles championship, Lord credits his time spent during the week as the catalyst for this last run.
“I think it just comes from engagement in practice,” Lord said. “[I’ve been] working on my game and going with my shots — just being more confident out there. It took awhile to get used to college tennis.
“I’m now used to it, and I’m enjoying it more and more.”
And apparently, those practices are quite the spectacle.
“He’s had some of the best practices over the last month than, probably, the best practices on our team,” Pedroso said of Lord. “He’s really taking ownership of it and coming out with energy every day in practice.”
Lord’s victory at No. 4 singles was the second of four straight points won for Virginia, with the match-clincher coming from Lizen.
Lizen’s aggressive and tireless style of play begs the attention anyone in the audience as is, but sometimes, his shots are too ridiculous to go unrecognized.
Derek Austin, Lizen’s dance partner at No. 2 singles, smashed a volley that would typically be considered a shot forgotten among the many throughout a match.
For Lizen, it was live bait.
Off the racket, Lizen jumped at the ball, tracking it midway through court three and lofting it high through the lights above his court to see it fall gently on Austin’s back line. The attempted return was engulfed into the net — along with Austin’s prior knowledge about tennis.
Wherewithal, determination and heart — all unteachable character traits for the Isle of Man native.
“That was unbelievable,” Pedroso said of the shot. “…You better put the ball away, because if you don’t put it away, he’s going to go to court three and dig it out and put it on the court. That’s typical Ash.”
Taking down the Eagles makes it back-to-back victories for UVa, which had a solid 4-3 victory in its outdoor opener at Central Florida last weekend. Next up is No. 18 Notre Dame, providing a litmus test in the ‘Hoos first outdoor, home, dual match of the season.
