No. 4 seed Virginia dominates No. 5 Mississippi State, set to rematch with Wake

ATHENS, GA — Almost nothing came easy for Mississippi State.

Despite battling with the Wahoos (26-4) for almost every point, the Bulldogs (25-6) continued to fall short. That trend began in the doubles, where Mississippi State looked competent, but just couldn't put together a solid game. Exciting points would be followed by let downs. On the other side, Virginia played a masterful game.

It started at the top as No. 1 ranked singles player Dylan Dietrich laid the hammer down on No. 9 Benito Sanchez Martinez, winning 6-4, 6-3 to set the tone.

Next to him on Court 2, his teammate, No. 21 Keegan Rice was also in full control. Rice cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over No. 13 Petar Jovanovic, in a match that was over before you even knew it.

By then, the Cavaliers were up 3-1 and were on pace to move on to the semifinals in short time as the Wahoos were also in control on Courts 3, 4 and 6.

Mississippi State's lone point came from a quick victory on Court 5 as Raphael Vaksmann took down Stiles Brockett in a 6-1, 6-2 rout.

From there, it was up to No. 58 Andres Santamarta Roig on 4, No. 114 Jangjun Kim on 3 or Mans Dahlberg on 6. Kim couldn't come through in the second set, and allowed his opponent No. 93 Niccolo Barroni to take the momentum.

Dahlberg seemed like he would close out the final set up 5-3, but that was not to be. In an 18-point tie-break, Stantamarta was the one to close the deal, but it wasn't in the most exciting fashion. He hung around in the tie-break and eventually won on a double fault by No. 65 Mario Martinez Serrano.

With the win, Virginia will face Wake Forest, who they've lost to twice this season, at 1 p.m. on Saturday for a spot in the final.

That match concluded the action for Thursday, and we now look ahead to the women's quarterfinals, beginning 10 a.m. Friday.