No. 4 Virginia pulls off all-time comeback versus No. 1 Wake Forest to move on to final
ATHENS, G.A. — No. 4 seed Virginia may have just pulled off one of the greatest comebacks of the year. That is no hyperbole.
No. 1 Wake Forest (35-3) took five of six first sets in singles play after winning the doubles point. With three courts remaining and holding a 3-1 lead, Wake was on the verge of earning another trip to the final and a chance to repeat. But Virginia (27-4) resurrected late in the match to down the Deacs. The Wahoos never lost their faith despite the big deficit to a team they had already lost to twice this season.
"We've come back from losing five or six first sets this year," Virginia head coach Andres Pedroso said. "So it doesn't feel that uncomfortable because we've done it, and I know these guys can turn it, and we're definitely fit enough. So that's kind of weird, but it doesn't feel that uncomfortable."
In any case, it seemed like Virginia was in a coffin that was about to be nailed shut. There were tie-breaks on Courts 4 and 5, and Wake just needed one of them. Then, No. 28 Luca Pow forced a third set on Court 3 versus No. 114 Jangjun Kim — the only first set Virginia had claimed — and Virginia's edge was all but dulled.
But one by one, the Cavaliers broke through.
The first point came from Court 1 as No. 1 Dylan Dietrich bounced back to win 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 after dropping the first set to N0. 27 DK Suresh.
Styles Brockett downed Joaquin Guilleme 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-3 in an intense battle, and the tide began to shift.
"Really proud of Stiles," Pedroso said. "I told Styles before the match that I'm gonna find out a lot about you today. And we found out a lot about that kid today. He's got his strong DNA, great parents, blue collar, hardworking, just great people and Stiles. That what he did out there today. He just was blue collar and went to work just like his family."
Next it was Kim, who pulled off a huge upset over Pow 7-5, 5-7, 6-2, outlasting the English junior. In a way, he was the anchor that kept the team together at the end. If it seemed like he was out of it, that could have detracted from the rest of the team's energy.
"The Jiangjun Kim story is a story that's halfway through, and when he graduates from University of Virginia, I'm going to tell it for the rest of my coaching career," Pedroso said. "He showed up to Virginia speaking very little English when I recruited him. I told him it was gonna be extremely hard. But if he was willing to do it, it was gonna change his life and he chose us knowing that I that it was the hardest path. And he's got a 3.2 GPA and he's speaking awesome English and he's building lifelong friends. He's really smart, and so this kid's future is really bright, and it's just halfway through. I'm gonna cherish every day with him at UVA."
Well, he was a huge part of the Hoos' parth to the NCAA men's final.
Another big part was No. 58 Andres Santamarta Roig, who fought off No. 125 Aryan Shah in the second-set tie-break 7-4, and went on to win the third set 6-4.
With the win, Virginia will face No. 2 Texas at 2 p.m. tomorrow with the national championship trophy up for grabs.
