UVA Men’s tennis wins their eighth straight ACC title (Photo credit: VirginiaSports.com)
As college tennis heads into its own version of March Madness—64 teams in 11 days playing for the NCAA Championship—several JTCC alums are finishing the regular season on a high.
Last year’s men’s champion, University of Virginia, features three JTCC alums: Justin Shane, Luca Corinteli, and No. 4 ranked singles player in the country Mitchell Frank. After a 20-2 regular season record, the No. 4 Cavaliers won all three ACC Tournament matches by the score of 4-0 to win their eighth consecutive title and tenth in the last 11 years, extending their win streak against ACC opponents to a record 121 matches.
The final against No. 9 North Carolina featured Corinteli and Shane in doubles and Frank in both singles and doubles. After splitting the first two doubles matches, Frank and Shane teamed up to win the doubles point for Virginia with an 8-5 victory. In singles, Frank did not get to add to his singles record as Virginia had already clinched the championship in other matches.
In the SEC, JTCC alum Junior Ore and his No. 11 ranked Texas A&M Aggies defeated No. 15 Florida to win their first championship as part of the conference. The Aggies improved to 24-6 and moved up in the latest ITA rankings to No. 8 in the country. Ore was featured in both singles and doubles throughout the season, finishing the season ranked No. 6 in the country in doubles. Both his matches in the final were unfinished due to other results, but he was ahead in both.
On the women’s side, the No. 17 Michigan Wolverines, with alum Amy Zhu, won their fifth straight regular season Big 10 championship with a resounding 7-0 victory over Purdue. The Wolverines won 11 Big 10 contests for the first time in program history. Zhu was a consummate part of the lineup in singles and doubles, including a win against Purdue in singles.
Elsewhere, JTCC alum Lauren Davis clinched the Patriot League Championship for her Boston University team with a win at No. 2 singles against Army. The win is the program’s first as a member of the Patriot League after 22 titles in the America East Conference. The Terriers will now play in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2011.
The NCAA Tournament selection show will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, April 29 at 5:00PM ET for the men and 5:30PM ET for the women. The women’s tournament begins May 9 while the men get going on May 10.
