The Virginia women's tennis team knew it would have a tough time going up against two top-10 tennis powers, but things were made tougher when their No. 3, No. 4 and No. 6 seeds went down with illnesses and injuries. The loss in the lineup showed on the courts as Virginia struggled against No. 7 North Carolina and No. 4 Duke, losing 7-0 and 6-1 respectively.
Yesterday, Duke jumped out quickly in the doubles matches as their third-seeded doubles team beat Virginia freshman Elizabeth Hornberger and Logan Smith, 8-2. Smith and Hornberger were filling in for the sick Marta and Dora Bechliwanis and Laura James, who could be out the rest of the year with an injury. Then, Duke's Amanda Johnson and Julie DeRoo, the nation's No. 42 doubles team, beat Cavalier seniors Christine Kim and Amy O'Donnell, 8-5, to clinch the doubles point.
Things didn't get any better for the Cavaliers (8-6, 1-4 ACC) in the singles matches as Duke's Hillary Adams, Katie Granson and No. 77 Saras Arasu beat Smith, Hornberger and Kim in straight sets with the three Virginia women only winning five games in those three matches.
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"We really missed Marta and Dora Bechliwanis this weekend," assistant coach Constantine Ananiadis said. "They are very good players and they both give us a big lift when they are in. We were also without Laura James who has been playing pretty good tennis. We looked at it as an opportunity, however, to give the young freshmen a chance to play a very good team."
Duke's top three seeds feature three of the top 30 players in college tennis. In the No. 2 and No. 3 matches it was much of the same Blue Devil dominance as No. 30 Amanda Johnson beat No. 100 Jen Tuchband 6-1, 6-2, while No. 21 DeRoo beat O'Donnell in her last home match at Virginia, 6-2, 6-2.
Things were very different in the No. 1 match, however, as Virginia's Henriette Williams dispatched of the No. 3 player in the country, freshman Kelly McCain, in three sets in the most exciting match of the day.
Williams took the first set in a tiebreaker before McCain roared back to dominate the second set, 6-1. The third set was back and forth, with each player losing on her own service game with chances to pull away. With the set tied 6-6, there would be another tiebreak where Williams quickly took advantage.
With the break tied at 3-3, Williams put McCain at a disadvantage as she rocketed a backhand up the line that McCain barely got a racquet on to send across court. The ball appeared to sail wide, much to the ire of McCain, who ran to the net yelling about the call made by Williams. The referree agreed with Williams, while McCain sat at the net questioning the call. McCain would never recover as Williams went on to win the tiebreak and the match 7-6 (6).
"I felt bad that we could not pull out the win as a team," Williams said. "But individually, it was very nice to pull out a win. I lost so many close matches this season, so it was great to come up with a big win. She had a very poor court attitude at the end of the match, so I was happy to pull out the win anyway possible."
Ananiadis agreed that Williams' match was one of the biggest of the season. This was a win that could propel the Cavaliers to terrific play later in the year.
"Williams played a big match for us," he said. "We are very proud of her, because this was a very big win. We hope this will fire up the team for the rest of the year."
The loss is the fourth straight for Virginia as they prepare to take on the Maryland Terrapins Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 p.m.
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