The Virginia men’s tennis team secured a 4-2 win over Columbia on May 2 at the Virginia Tennis Facility, moving forward to the Sweet Sixteen of the 2026 NCAA Men’s Tennis Championship.
The result means Virginia will face South Carolina in the Super Regional round. The Cavaliers are scheduled to host this next match on either Friday, May 8 or Saturday, May 9.
Columbia took an early lead by winning doubles court two, but Virginia responded with a victory from Dylan Dietrich and Måns Dahlberg on court one. The deciding doubles point went to Columbia after they narrowly won court three. In singles play, Columbia expanded its lead before Keegan Rice put Virginia on the scoreboard. Andres Santamarta Roig and Jangjun Kim both came back from first-set losses to win their matches in three sets, giving Virginia its first lead of the night. Dietrich clinched the overall victory for Virginia by defeating Michael Zheng in three sets.
Head coach Andres Pedroso said: “Just an incredible fight by the Columbia Lions. That team always fights. They are so well coached. We played them in the regional so many times, and they always give us a war. So congrats to that team on an amazing season.” He continued: “And I’m just really proud of this team. These guys just fight until the end. They’ve done it all season. We’ve been down many times this season, and these guys just don’t give up. So they always give themselves a chance. I am really proud of their fight ,and let’s keep it going.”
According to match notes provided by Virginia Athletics, this marks their seventh win against Columbia out of eight meetings and is their second victory over them this season after a previous matchup in January ended with a score of 6-1 for Virginia.
Looking ahead, Virginia will prepare for its upcoming Super Regional contest against South Carolina.
