Only two days removed from their fourth victory of the season, the Cavaliers started strong in Sunday's match against Brown and carried their early success to a convincing team win.
Virginia swept all three doubles matches for a 1-0 lead and went on to win five out of their six singles matches for a 6-1 victory.
"We did a good job of keeping our heads together," coach Phil Rogers said. "A couple of us got off to bad starts but were able to get into the match, and a couple of them changed the pace of the match. That was the name of the game today. They did make us play, and change things up."
Shannon Stough, Dora Bechliwanis, Kristen James and Mariko Fritz-Krockow all prevailed in straight sets. The wins by Dora Bechliwanis in the No. 2 spot and Kristen James at No. 3 brought both of their records in those positions to 3-0. Marta Bechliwanis was able to hold off a late surge by Amanda Saiontz for a three-set win, and Lauren Bruch suffered her first loss in the No. 2 position to Stephanie Falconi in a closely fought match.
Playing in the No. 1 position for the fifth time this season, Fritz-Krockow overcame a slow start to post her third victory of the year. A few double faults and unforced errors left her in a 1-4 hole, but she was able to fight back for a 7-5 first-set victory. With the momentum from the early comeback, Fritz-Krockow easily took the second set 6-1.
"The first set, I was nervous," Fritz-Krockow said. "I sublexed my shoulder on Tuesday so it really hurts... I guess I was nervous about popping it out again."
In the only three-set match of the afternoon, Marta Bechliwanis was able to improve her singles record to 3-1. Bechliwanis dominated the first set 6-0 but lost the second 4-6. With a 3-0 lead in the third set, she dropped successive games but was able to regain her composure and end the match with a 6-2 win.
"At three-love I got frustrated, I started going for too much," Bechliwanis said. "But then I regrouped, I got my concentration together."
The victory over Brown was the Cavaliers' second over a ranked opponent this season and brings their overall record to 5-1.
The Cavaliers now enter a tough portion of their season. Trips to Princeton, Penn and Virginia Tech are all on the schedule for the next two weeks, and only UNC-Greensboro is slated to come to Charlottesville until a March 14 matchup with Florida State.
"We're a good road team," Rogers said. "We're more confident on the road. Princeton and Penn will be our two really good top notch opponents. They always get up for us, and we get up for them too. Those will be two tough matches. That'll hint on a hair one way or another, I guarantee it. We'll be ready."
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