No. 2 Virginia men's tennis dominates Virginia Tech in Commonwealth Clash – The Cavalier Daily

Virginia men's tennis traveled to Blacksburg on Wednesday to take on Virginia Tech in the Commonwealth Clash. The No. 2 Cavaliers (17-4, 9-0 ACC) had no problem remaining undefeated in conference play in their matchup against the Hokies (9-8, 2-7 ACC), posting a 6-1 won and extended their victory. streak to nine games.

The doubles match began at 3 p.m. and started off strong for Virginia, with senior Chris Rodesch and graduate student Edoardo Graziani winning their match 6-3 on court three. Virginia Tech fought back, however, defeating senior Jeffrey von der Schulenburg and freshman Dylan Dietrich 4-6 on court two to even the score in doubles.

The dual came down to the Supreme Court, where graduate student James Hopper and senior Iaki Montes de la Torre, a duo currently ranked sixth in the nation, faced senior Ryan Fishback and junior Maxime St. Hilaire. Hopper and Montes were able to get the win with a 6-4 victory, giving the Cavaliers their first and certainly not last point of the match.

With the score at 1-0, the singles match started on the courts. Senior Alexander Kiefer had a standout performance, winning his match on court five in two straight sets. Kiefer finished before any of the other courts had finished their first sets, winning 6-1, 6-1, giving Virginia the second point.

Rodesch was next to finish and also won in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3 on the top court to keep Virginia Tech off the scoreboard. Rodesch is currently ranked sixth nationally, and his performance on Wednesday proved he deserves that position.

As with other conference matchups in the past, the rest of the matches on the singles courts were tighter and could have gone either way. On courts two, three and six, the Hokies won the first sets, meaning the Cavaliers would have to take the second set to have a chance at the point.

On court three, Dietrich managed to win the second set 7-5 and thus force a third and decisive set. In the third set, Dietrich made sure the score wasn't so close and dominated 6-2 to capture the winning point and make the total score 4-0.

Schulenburg finished just minutes after Dietrich with a victory of its own, recovering from dropping its first set 4-6 to win 6-1, 6-4 on court two and make the score 5-0. Sophomore Mns Dahlberg, after managing to outscore his opponent 11-9 in the first set, won his match on court four after winning the second set tiebreaker 8-6, pushing Virginia's lead to 6 -0 was pushed.

Graziani's match on court six was the last to finish and was as much of a nail-biter as the other singles matches. After losing the first set 4-6, Graziani recovered to win the second set 6-4. Ultimately, the tiebreak set required its own tiebreak. After going back and forth for most of the encounter, Graziani was defeated by junior Alberto Orso 9-11 in the final set, bringing the final score of the Commonwealth Clash to 6-1 in favor of the Cavaliers.

Coach Andres Pedroso reflected cheerfully on his team's performance and contribution to Virginia's side of the domestic rivalry with Virginia Tech, noting the difficulty of playing in the cold weather in Blacksburg.

I'm really proud of this team. We had tough conditions today, Pedroso said. It was cold and windy, and I felt like our guys handled it really well. There were certain spots where we were in some holes, and they just found ways to be patient with themselves and beat the conditions.

Despite Graziani being the only Virginia player to lose a game on Wednesday, Pedroso specifically highlighted his performance.

I'm really proud of Eddy Graziani for the way he fought at the end, Pedroso said. The way our team cheered him on shows that our culture is very strong, and it was a very good moment for our program.

Virginia returns home to host Boston College Sunday at noon for another conference match and the team's Senior Day. The Eagles haven't won an ACC game yet and the Cavaliers haven't lost one, so Virginia will be confident in its chances this weekend.