ATHENS, Ga. \u2013 The Virginia men\u2019s tennis team has been crowned the 2026 NCAA champion. The fourth-seeded Cavaliers (28-4) defeated second-seeded Texas (29-7) 4-3 on Sunday (May 17) at the Magill Tennis Complex to earn the seventh NCAA title in program history.<\/p>\n
After advancing to the finals for the ninth time in the last 15 championships, Virginia now holds the fourth-most team titles in the NCAA.\u00a0The title was the first for the Cavaliers since 2023, when they repeated as NCAA champions.<\/p>\n
UVA’s run in the NCAA Championship began with two weekends of home tennis, as the Cavaliers hosted both the Charlottesville Regional and Super Regional. After wins over Rider, Columbia and South Carolina, the Hoos headed down to Athens, the site of the tournament’s final three rounds. A 4-1 win over fifth-seeded Mississippi State in Thursday’s quarterfinals set the stage for a 4-3 comeback victory over top-seeded Wake Forest in the semifinals on Saturday.<\/p>\n
When No. 1 Dylan Dietrich<\/a> clinched Virginia’s 4-3 win over Texas, he sealed the Cavaliers’ six-match run to the title.<\/p>\n Sunday’s action began with a rocky, but not unfamliar, start for Virginia. The Cavaliers dropped the doubles point to Texas marking the third time they’d started a match with a deficit in their NCAA Championship run.<\/p>\n Needing four singles wins, Virginia took three of six first sets. No. 21 Keegan Rice<\/a> finished first, cruising to a 6-1, 6-3 win over No. 41 Kalin Ivanovski on court two to tie the match at one apiece.<\/p>\n Texas briefly regained the lead with a win on court four, but a gutsy 6-4, 6-4 win from sophomore Stiles Brockett<\/a> on court five evened the match at 2-2.<\/p>\n The Longhorns continued to land blows, this time winning court six to push their lead to 3-2. Nearly simultaneously, Dietrich recovered from a dropped first set to take the second and force a decisive third on the top court and No. 114 Jangjun Kim<\/a> was entering a second-set tiebreaker on court three.<\/p>\n Kim had taken his first set 6-1 and, in order to guarantee Virginia the critical third point, was battling to win his match in straight sets. After a thriller of a tiebreaker, Kim delivered the 7-6 (9) win over No. 35 Sebastian Eriksson, meaning the fate of the match rested entirely on court one.<\/p>\n In the lone match to require a third set in the sweltering Georgia heat, Dietrich gritted out a 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 victory over fellow top-five ranked player, No. 3 Sebastian Gorzny, to clinch the match for Virginia.<\/p>\n FROM HEAD COACH ANDRES PEDROSO<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIncredible week here in Athens. Just an amazing tournament. As I said after the match, it is a magical place to play college tennis with the best teams in the country. Thank you to the University of Georgia and the NCAA and everyone that worked so hard to put it together. I\u2019 really proud of my team. These guys have come a long way this year. We\u2019ve had a lot of conversations. I\u2019ve given a lot of speeches. We\u2019ve had a lot of meals together. What you saw out there today is an accumulation of all those moments and all of those conversations and all of those interactions that we had with one another. That\u2019s our culture out there, just a never say die attitude. We try to do it in a classy way and I think that\u2019s what these guys did.\u201d<\/p>\n On what you vocalize to your players in the final moments: \u201cI was telling him, let\u2019s see the culture. Show me the culture. Put it on display. That\u2019s what I was telling him. Give everything you can to Dylan [Dietrich]. Show how much you love him. Show him how close you are to him. Show him the friendship you have with him. Show him that you\u2019ve got his back no matter what. Show me the culture. Show me the culture.\u201d<\/p>\n On where the Virginia magic comes from: \u201cI think some of it is the winning tradition that we can draw from and a lot of stories that I can tell about the former players and what they\u2019ve done to put seven stars on our back. Now, seven stars on our back, It\u2019s hard to believe. There\u2019s just so many stories, so many former players that I talk to them about all the time. I don\u2019t want to say it\u2019s brainwashing because I really believe it when I tell them, I make sure they believe that when they walk on the grounds at the University of Virginia for the first time. That we play our best tennis in May and we are the closest team. We take pride in that. We\u2019re really tough out. I give the former players all the credit for that, for that winning tradition and all the stories that I can draw from for these guys to pump them up.\u201d<\/p>\n FROM JUNIOR DYLAN DIETRICH<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n On the importance of mental toughness: \u201cThere was lots of ups and downs in today\u2019s match. I think today it was more important than ever to stay focused on what you can influence. Your opponent will play some great tennis. Just hang in there and believe that the work you\u2019ve done over the past year will pay off in the end, and it did.\u201d<\/p>\n On his takeaways from the NCAA Tournament: \u201cIt\u2019s not about the tennis. [Head Coach Andres Pedroso<\/a>] loves that. He was telling us all year, \u2018It\u2019s not about the tennis.\u2019 It\u2019s really not. It\u2019s just about giving yourself the best chance by hanging in there mentally. Trying to make one more ball. Trying to deal with when things don\u2019t go your way, when the other guy plays great. Just resetting before every point. It\u2019s all in the head, ultimately at this level, I feel like.\u201d<\/p>\n On what\u2019s next for him: \u201cOne more year. Trying to squeeze everything out of this UVA experience with the coaches, staff, but also<\/p>\n MATCH NOTES<\/p>\n Virginia won its seventh NCAA team championship. #5 Virginia 4, #1 Texas 3<\/p>\n Singles competition Doubles competition Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (2,4,5,6,3,1)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ATHENS, Ga. \u2013 The Virginia men\u2019s tennis team has been crowned the 2026 NCAA champion. 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\nThe title was the first for the Cavaliers since 2023, when they repeated as NCAA champions.
\nThe Cavaliers, previously tied with Georgia, now have the fourth-most team titles in the NCAA.
\nVirginia was the No. 4 seed in the tournament and the No. 5 team in the ITA team rankings.
\nThe Cavaliers competed in the finals for the ninth time in the last 15 championships.
\nVirginia defeated Texas twice this season, previously downing the Longhorns 4-1 in January nonconference action.
\nDietrich went 24-1 on court one this spring season.
\nRice led the team with a 34-6 record, including a 20-3 effort on courts one and two.
\nKim finished with a 25-9 record, including a 16-6 mark in the spring.
\nBrockett went 25-14 with a 14-9 record on courts four through six.
\nAfter going 5-0 in the NCAA Championship and clinching the title match, junior Dylan Dietrich<\/a> was named the Tournament MVP.\u00a0
\nDietrich, along with sophomores Keegan Rice<\/a> and Jangjun Kim<\/a>, were named to the Men’s All-Tournament Team for singles.
\nThe NCAA team title was the 37th in the history of UVA Athletics.<\/p>\n
1. #1 Dylan Dietrich<\/a> (VA) def. #3 Sebastian Gorzny (TEX) 6-7 (2-7), 6-4, 6-4
2. #21 Keegan Rice<\/a> (VA) def. #41 Kalin Ivanovski (TEX) 6-1, 6-3
3. #114 Jangjun Kim<\/a> (VA) def. #35 Sebastian Eriksson (TEX) 6-1, 7-6 (11-9)
4. #89 Oliver Ojakaar (TEX) def. #58 Andres Santamarta Roig<\/a> (VA) 6-1, 6-4
5. Stiles Brockett<\/a> (VA) def. #102 Abel Forger (TEX) 6-4, 6-4
6. Lucas Marionneau (TEX) def. Mans Dahlberg<\/a> (VA) 6-3, 7-5<\/p>\n
1. #12 Mans Dahlberg<\/a>\/Dylan Dietrich<\/a> (VA) def. Kalin Ivanovski\/Abel Forger (TEX) 6-3
2. #21 Sebastian Gorzny\/Lucas Marionneau (TEX) def. Andres Santamarta Roig<\/a>\/Jangjun Kim<\/a> (VA) 6-4
3. #46 Oliver Ojakaar\/Sebastian Eriksson (TEX) def. Stiles Brockett<\/a>\/Keegan Rice<\/a> (VA) 6-2<\/p>\n