By james art 
Every athletic program wants young associates who engage and contribute at the beginning of the season, especially when their older ones start slowly. Number 5 Virginia is no exception. After a hesitant beginning and a close victory on Saturday against Boys State, Cavalars (4-0, 0-0 ACC) rejected any doubt in an impressive victory over number 19 Alabama on Sunday to qualify for the national team in closed ITA Tennis Championship In Wako and Dallas, Texas, February 13-17.
The story of the weekend for Virginia was her freshmen – Kigan Rice, Rafael Jodar, Jangjun Kim and Styles Brokett – who remained unbeaten over the weekend, taking into account four of the six Cavaliers on the single and played a big role in securing the points against Broncos (1 -1, 0-0 MWC) and Crimson Tide (3-1, 0-0 Sec).
Virginia hosted the four -team tournament that included Boys State, Alabama and VCU, as part of the ITA Kickoff Weekend – a set of 14 tournaments at the beginning of the season across the country where teams are trying to secure places in the team championships indoors, winning their group of four. Just under half of the 14 host teams-selected on the basis of ranking and performance-lost. Not Virginia.
“It was a great weekend for our boys,” said coach Andres Pedroso. “I’m happy to get to Dallas.”
Cavaliers started their weekend with a remarkably difficult match against Broncos, but eventually won 4-2. The wins of couples, the couple Rice and the student James Hopper and the team of Kim and Yodar, provided the first point, but the game of single proved that Boys State was a difficult way out and showed that Virginia had to shake off a little rust before entering In a particularly difficult set of double matches in the coming weeks.
The singles against Broncos began strongly, with Cavalars winning four of the six first sets. Rice, who was recently named a freshman of the week of ACC, won 6-1, 6-1, closing the match before another court decided his first set.
Against a difficult opponent of Court 3, Rice showed an incredibly impressive pace and aggression, seemingly irresistible at times on the way to securing Virginia’s lead by 2-0. Brockett followed the example of Court 6 with another victory in two sets, 6-3, 6-2, and showed a consistent game in his debut for the season.
After led by 3-0 and needed another point to secure a place in the final against Crimson Tide, things started to unravel for Cavaliers. Junior Mans Dalberg-who was ranked number 86 at the start of the season before losing his first two single single-lost 3-6, 2-6 on Court 5, keeping the hopes of Broncos alive while they They were picking up the speed of other courts.
Boys State stole another point on Court 1, as number 111 Jet Middleton took the sophomore number 57 Dylan Dietrich to three sets and a possible win with 4-6, 6-1, 6-1. In the first set, Dietrich looked amazing, cracking the air with his service, but failed to struck a constant game in the last sets, while Middleton played strong tennis throughout the game.
As Virginia led only 3-2 and losing the inertia of courts 2 and 4, a break for Cavaliers came when i Yodar won her single match on Court 2, 6-1, 5-7, 6-1. Jódar played a strong defensive tennis to bring the winning point two and a half after the match.
“[Boise State] He really took us to the wire and we fought all the way yesterday, so I give great merit to this program, “Pedroso said on Sunday. “They are a dangerous team.”
After winning 4-0 over Rams (0-3, 0-0 A10), Alabama entered the Sunday match, ready to face a country from Virginia, hoping to recover from a more competitive match than expected. Again, the duo Rice and Hopper and Kim and Yodar provided Virginia at the point of couples, the only difference in single was that Kim was playing on court 6 over Brown.
The difficult weekend of Dietrich was strengthened by another loss of single, defeat by 4-6, 2-6 on Court 1 by senior Philip Mountain. Hopper, however, who had not completed his single on Saturday, returned Cavaliers’ lead with a 6-4, 6-1 victory to Court 4.
After an extremely difficult start of the single season, Dalberg took his first victory-a win by 6-2, 6-4 on Court 5-and Kim won 6-4, 6-3 on Court 6 to secure 4- 1 Winning for Virginia for just two hours.
“I was really happy with energy, friendship and just looking into the eyes of our team today,” Pedro said. “Especially after yesterday, after I had a slightly harder day.”
The contribution of the four freshmen made everything different for a young Cavaliers team – a particularly Rice game at an incredible pace, and he and Iodar had two wins in couples over the weekend without losing a single match.
Before leaving for Dallas for the team championship, Virginia will have to face many difficult opponents. Cavaliers will accept number 3 in Ohio State on Friday before they quickly face Number 1 Texas on Sunday, also at Boar’s Head Resort. Five days later, they will travel to stand against Georgia in what will be a relatively easier match, but one that will not be pushed, as happens after the matches against the two of the three best teams on The nation.