University of Virginia Library

Netters Win Ninth Straight;
Richmond Falls In 9-0 Sweep

Heading into the last week of
the season, Coach Gordon Burris'
tennis team is sporting the best
record of any varsity sport at the
University. Their mark of thirteen
wins and two losses, the best since
1952, was most recently augmented
by a 9-0 blanking of the University
of Richmond.

Inspired by the weekend's
beautiful weather, the Cavaliers
took to the courts early Saturday
morning to begin play by 10. Only
a little more than two hours later
Burris' eight netters calmly walked
off those same courts each with a
grin of victory on his face.

Mike Eikenberry started the ball
rolling from his number one singles
position by demolishing
Richmond's Craig Cooley, 6-1, 6-2.
The Virginia captain was
particularly effective at the net in
following up his powerful service
and seemed to have something to
counter every shot that Cooley
could manage. The victory was
Eikenberry's sixth straight after a
slump during the early season.

While Eikenberry was polishing
off one Spider, another, Matt
Mattox, was providing Virginia's
Jeff Podesta with some tough
competition on the second court.
After nipping Mattox, 6-4, in the
first set, Podesta showed some
fatigue in falling behind in the
second, but before the Richmonder
could amass too great a lead
Podesta's infamous passing shots
were once again zinging past him.
The Cavalier rallied and captured
the final set, 6-4, to tally Virginia's
second point of the match.

Meanwhile in the last four
singles matchups Cavalier services
boomed and Richmond tempers
flared as Scheinman, Winter,
Waterman, and Kain dropped a
combined total of only four games
while winning 48 to complete
Virginia's third consecutive singles
sweep.

Continuing in his winning ways,
Andy Scheinman quickly disposed
of his opponent, Joel Dierson, 6-1,
6-2 at the third spot. Scheinman's
aggressive net play was once again
the key to victory as the third-year
Cavalier volleyed deep for winners
and kept Dierson running with an
occasional drop shot.

John Winter, playing his usual
power game, had very little trouble
with Richmond's Rea Brown as he
simply overwhelmed the Spider,
6-0, 6-0. On the average the points
didn't last long as Winter easily
volleyed Brown's weak service
returns when he was serving and
deftly passed the Spider in most
other situations.

Doug Waterman, moving up
from sixth to fifth on the ladder
because of an injury to Biff Cooper,

accepted the challenge and
promptly downed Richmond's
Chuck Gordon by another "love
and love" score. Thus far during
the season only one netter has been
able to come up with a victory over
Waterman and his driving forehand
placements.

Bob Kain wrapped up the singles
competition with a win at the sixth
position by a score of 6-0, 6-1. His
opponent, Tim Evans, could hardly
muster enough points to win a
single game as Kain kept him
running all morning with deep
volleys and driving ground strokes.

The outcome of the doubles
play was not unusual the
Cavaliers blanked their opponents
3-0. In the first doubles matchup
Virginia's tandem of Eikenberry
and Podesta polished off the
Spiders' Cooley and Dierson
quickly to the tune of a 6-0, 6-2
lashing.

Winter and Scheinman, playing
second doubles for Burris, recorded
the second Cavalier victory by
dumping the Mattox-Brown team
from Richmond, 6-3, 6-3 while
John Mertz and Bob Kain teamed
to win the third doubles by a
lopsided 6-1, 6-1 score.

With their third consecutive 9-0
sweep under their belts the
Cavaliers immediately took to the
courts for practice in preparation
for Monday's match against
Maryland. Although the Terps are
not in prime contention in the
ACC, Coach Burris expects a close
match for the Cavaliers,
predominately a lay court team,
will be forced to play on
Maryland's extremely fast concrete
courts.