Road matches return this weekend as the Virginia women's tennis team travels to sunny Florida to face ACC rivals Florida State Friday and Miami Sunday.
Even though the matches take place far away from home, the situation should be similar to that of a home match, as many families of the players will make the trip to watch them compete. This added support should be greatly beneficial in what could have potentially been a hostile environment due to the intensity of conference play.
The two teams that the women will face stand as some of the toughest matches Virginia will face to date. No. 17 Florida State (9-5, 2-3 ACC) comes off a definitive loss to No. 7 Georgia Tech (13-4, 4-1 ACC) March 25. In this Sunday's match, No. 9 Miami (13-3, 4-1 ACC) goes against Virginia after a win against No. 8 Clemson (13-3, 4-1 ACC) but also must face No. 69 Virginia Tech (10-8, 0-4 ACC) on Friday before facing the Cavaliers.
No. 63 Virginia (8-6, 2-3 ACC) enters this weekend after splitting a set of home matches this past weekend. In a spectacular and hard-fought win, the Cavaliers toppled No. 44 N.C. State (10-6, 1-4 ACC) March 23 but then later fell to No. 14 Wake Forest (10-4, 4-2 ACC) March 25.
"Especially with N.C. State, we were really tough," sophomore Lara Alexander said. "It was one of the toughest matches we've had all year and we learned that it's really important for us to be mentally tough. We can get through any match if we just stick with it."
Mentally, pulling off a win in a hard-fought match does leaps and bounds to improve the team's confidence on the court. Additional work on doubles play has also added another level of confidence. Since doubles play comes first in matches, if that point is lost, it puts a negative skew on the rest of the match; however, the Cavaliers have increased doubles practice and good pairings among players have finally been achieved. The doubles situation appears to be on its way up.
This improvement and a fine tuning of Virginia's game will have to come together in the weekend's matches if the team wishes to return from Florida with two wins. The matches of the weekend have great implications in rankings and in the possibility of postseason play for the Cavaliers. Considering the lofty rankings of both the Seminoles and the Hurricanes, not only confidence but also physical play will have to be at its peak.
"We have a good win under our belts, and now I think it's time to take our chances," Virginia coach Mark Guilbeau said. "The question really is if we are ready to be better. Are we ready to stick with this level of play? Are we fast enough? Are we fit enough? Are we good enough? And I think the answer to those questions is 'yes'."
Friday's match against Florida State takes place in Tallahassee at 3 p.m. while Sunday's match against Miami goes down in Coral Gables at 4 p.m.
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