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The Falls Church, Va., native joined an impressive group that includes John McEnroe (Stanford, 1978), Bob Bryan (Stanford, 1998) and Steve Johnson (USC, 2011 and 2012). "It was a great feeling," Shane said. "I was able to celebrate it with my parents, my girlfriend and all my coaches. I felt like I was celebrating it with my team as well. They all texted me, and I called them all. They were all so excited for me." Shane's girlfriend is Stephanie Nauta, the captain of the UVa women's tennis team. "Boland called her 'Coach Steph' because she was always trying to give me advice," said a smiling Shane, "and she helped a tremendous amount, as well as my parents. "They supported me no matter what. After I got down 5-0 and got back to 5-2 [in the first set], they said, 'Just keep doing what you're doing, you'll find it.' They helped a lot." Shane also credited his older brother, former UVa player Justin Shane, for helping him throughout his career. When Ryan was a first-year at Virginia, Justin was a third-year. "Coming in from high school to college is a huge transition — trying to balance school and tennis," Ryan Shane said. "It's difficult, but to have somebody who had done it already — he could guide me through it. "I looked up to him a lot throughout my years here." With his victory, Shane, in all likelihood, will receive a main-draw wild card to this summer's U.S. Open, as is the custom for American NCAA champions. Boland believes Shane can make some noise there. "Ryan has a big enough game, physically, where if he plays within himself in the bigger moments he can beat anyone," Boland said. — Whitelaw Reid