Sept. 27, 2009

Tennessee senior Davey Sandgren and junior John-Patrick Smith won two matches Saturday to claim the doubles title in the A-1 bracket at the UVa Ranked Plus One Invitational in Charlottesville, Va.

Smith, freshman Rhyne Williams and junior Boris Conkic each won a singles match to progress into the semifinals of their respective brackets.

"Today was a challenging day and our guys responded well," associate head coach Chris Woodruff said. "We continue to grow every day as a team, and I am particularly happy to see our underclassmen to perform so well."

Sandgren and Smith, the No. 1-ranked doubles pair by the ITA, defeated Wake Forest's Steven Forman and Iain Atkinson in the semifinals 8-3. Later in the day, they won the championship match 9-8 against Henrique Cunha and Reid Carleton of Duke.

With three more victories as a pair this weekend, Sandgren and Smith remain sixth in career doubles at Tennessee with 42. They need six more wins to pass Andy Crews and Peter Handoyo (2000-01) and move alone into fifth place.

Conkic and Williams reached the doubles finals in the A-2 bracket, but lost the championship match 9-8 to Louisville's Austen Childs and Simon Childs, the No. 10-ranked team nationally.

In singles, Smith advanced to the singles semifinals with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Forman in the A-1 bracket. Smith faces Jarmere Jenkins of Virginia on Sunday.

Once again, Williams took another step in the UVa tournament by defeating a ranked opponent in the A-2 bracket. This time it was against No. 16 Clay Donato of North Carolina. No score was given. Williams is now 3 for 3 against ranked opponents in the last two tournaments.

Conkic defeated Milo Johnson of host Virginia 6-2,6-2 to move into the A-4 bracket semifinals. He plays Jose Hernandez of North Carolina in the semifinals.

Redshirt freshman Taylor Patrick defeated Virginia's Brian Fang 6-1, 6-1 to advance to the B bracket consolation finals. Sophomore Bryan Swartz lost to Zack Hunter of North Carolina 6-4, 4-6, 1-0 (8) in the consolation semifinals.

Like Friday, all the matches Saturday were played indoors at the Boar's Head Sports Club because of rain. The tournament concludes Sunday.