The No. 22 Virginia women's tennis team has a busy ACC schedule ahead of them, as they prepare to take on rivals Georgia Tech and Clemson. The Cavaliers play the No. 21 Yellow Jackets Friday, March 28 at 2:00 p.m. and the No. 25 Tigers Sunday, March 30 at 1:00 p.m. The two meetings will be played in Charlottesville at the Snyder Tennis Center, closing out a four-game homestand.
Virginia is no stranger to upsets. They proved this Monday when the then-ranked No. 37 Cavaliers posted a 6-1 win against then-ranked No. 22 Oregon.The win included a Cavalier sweeping of all three doubles matches, led by the nationally ranked No. 40 Henriette Williams and Jennifer Tuchband duo, who posted an 8-2 win at first doubles.No. 38 Kristen James and Lori Stern followed with an 8-1 victory at second doubles. The win over the Ducks improved the Cavalier's record to 11-4, 1-0 ACC.
Since then, the tennis team has been busy practicing for Georgia Tech (10-2). Georgia Tech picked up their seventh consecutive win when they beat No. 36 Minnesota last Saturday afternoon. They were led by No. 54 doubles partners Kelly Anderson and Jaime Wong (the duo the Tuchband/Williams combination likely will face). The Yellow Jackets took a decisive victory, winning by a score of 8-5.
Coach Phil Rogers is well aware of the challenge Georgia Tech brings.
"I think they're going to be every bit as tough a team" as Oregon, Rogers said. "They're an extremely well-coached team. We'll just have to work on some things and practice, continue to improve, that's the only thing you can do after a good win.Its going to be a really tight match, so we'll just fight hard and see what happens."
Clemson also will be a challenge for Virginia. Historically, the Tigers hold a 22-3 overall advantage in matches against Virginia. In 2002, the Tigers defeated the then-48th-ranked Cavaliers by a score of 5-2 at a meeting played in Clemson.However, the Tigers are coming off a major 6-1 loss to fifth-ranked Florida last weekend.
Williams is anticipating a hard-fought contest when the Cavaliers and Tigers meet in Charlottesville.
"We have a big time rivalry with Clemson just because we had a bunch of fights with them last year," Williams said. "So it'll be good to have them up here.It's definitely an advantage that we're playing them at home."
Her doubles partner concurred with this assessment but is also keeping one eye on the Georgia Tech contest.
"I know we're going to be really psyched up to play them just because they're always two tough matches and we're playing at home this year," Tuchband said.
Following the Georgia Tech and Clemson meetings, the Cavaliers will hit the road and travel to North Carolina to take on No. 8 UNC and No. 4 Duke on April 5 and 6.
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