April 23, 2006
DURHAM, N.C. – With the match pushed back nearly five hours and moved to an indoor facility due to thunderstorms, the third seeded Miami men’s tennis team dropped a tough 4-2 decision to second seeded Virginia Saturday evening at Duke University’s Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center. <?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>
The Hurricanes fall to 18-6 overall while the Cavaliers (21-7) advance to the ACC Championship final where they will face Duke.
Saturday’s semifinal match, originally scheduled to be played at 12:30 p.m., was moved from the <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>CaryTennisCenter to Duke’s indoor facility because of rainstorms in area.
Virginia opened the match by winning the doubles point. Somdev Devvarman and Treat Huey teamed at No. 2 for an 8-2 win over Tim Krebs and Vivek Subramanian before Virginia’s Darrin Cohen and Doug Stewart clinched the point at the No. 3 position with an 8-4 win over Eric Hechtman and P.J. Passalcqua.
The Cavaliers went up 2-0 in the match when Cohen defeated John Hoyes 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 at No. 6 singles.
But Miami’s 97th ranked Josh Cohen answered with a 6-4, 6-4 straight-set victory over No. 86 Doug Stewart at the No. 3 position.
Miami knotted the score at 2-all when fourth ranked Luigi D’Agord grinded out a 6-4, 7-6 (6) over 13th ranked Devvarman at the No. 1 slot.
Virginia took the match lead for good, however, when Hechtman fell to Marko Miklo in three sets, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 at the No. 5 position.
The Cavaliers clinched their third-consecutive ACC Championship title at the No. 2 position when No. 45 Rylan Rizza defeated 101st ranked Daniel Vallaverdu, 6-5, 7-5.
The Hurricanes will now look ahead to the NCAA Championships which begin May 12th with regional action. NCAA selections will be announced May 3rd. Stay tuned to Hurricanesports.com for up-to-date news, results and recaps.