Coming off of three straight wins, the Virginia women's tennis team will face off against Old Dominion today and Tennessee Sunday. After a tough one-point loss to Ohio State Feb. 1, the Cavaliers have bounced back, defeating Virginia Tech, Harvard and Brown. The team's resilience and determination has been largely credited with these victories.
Fueled by its recent success, Virginia now looks to ride its wave of confidence into this weekend's matches.
"I get my confidence as a coach from knowing we're doing everything we can, working and really trying to be smart and covering all the little details," head coach Mark Guilbeau said. "I know I will try to give them as much confidence as I can, but the reality is it's their confidence, so I hope that they will take what they should right now, which is they should be confident."
Sophomore Jennifer Stevens agreed that this confidence plays a vital role in the team's success.
"This [past] weekend was really good for us," Stevens said. "We needed some wins behind our belt and beating Virginia Tech as well, so hopefully we can continue this streak."
The first team the Cavaliers will play this weekend is the Old Dominion Lady Monarchs. The Monarchs are coming off a 4-3 win over Colorado and are led by a strong doubles team of junior Charleen Haarhoff and freshman Nadine Fahoum. Although Old Dominion is not nationally ranked, it is still a formidable opponent. Virginia has never played Old Dominion, but the Cavaliers have an idea of what they are facing.
"Old Dominion will be probably a lot like these last two, a team that we probably match up pretty evenly with," Guilbeau said. "To be honest, we have a good chance to win this match. I think we've got a good shot to have another good day against Old Dominion and hopefully get a win."
Following their duel on Friday, the No. 53-ranked Cavaliers will head into their match versus the favored Tennessee Volunteers, currently ranked No. 21 in the nation. The team is coming off a 4-3 victory against the Indiana Hoosiers and is led by the nation's No. 2 doubles team: sophomores Caitlin Whoriskey and Zsofia Zubor.
"Tennessee is a national top 15 team on most years," Guilbeau said. "I've played them, certainly as a coach, many, many times coming from Kentucky. That's a good program. Tennessee is a chance to maybe see what the next level is like."
Playing higher-ranked teams, however, is nothing new for Virginia.
"We feel pretty good," Junior Hampton Williams said. "We're typically the underdogs with most people that we play, we're going to have a positive attitude especially after this [past] weekend and last weekend when we beat Tech."
In order to beat Tennessee, the Cavaliers will need to rely on the help of their teammates. Senior Lindsey Pereira described how the team is building chemistry.
"We're doing a lot of things off the court," Pereira said, "Growing as a team and trying to get on the same page and trying to work together to really understand that it's a team effort out there that we're trying to give."
These upcoming games are extremely important to the team because after this weekend, the Cavaliers will be heading into crucial inter-conference games with fellow members of the ACC. Williams stressed the significance of this weekend's games.
"I think they're important just for the confidence aspect ... just because the more wins we can get, the more we can believe we can actually do it," Williams said, "The 'it,' that is, is to win the Atlantic Coast Conference and eventually the NCAA Championships."
The Cavaliers are led by juniors Amanda Rales and Lara Alexander at number one doubles, with Rales also competing at number one singles. They are followed by the dynamic duo of Pereira and junior Maggie Yahner at number two doubles. The team looks to follow these ladies' lead as they head into their matches this weekend. The Cavaliers will take on both teams at home in Charlottesville, playing Old Dominion today at 1 p.m. and Tennessee Sunday at noon.
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