Cavalier Daily Associate Editor For the next two weekends, the Virginia women's tennis team will be on the road. This weekend, when traveling to College Park Friday to take on Maryland and to Chestnut Hill Sunday to take on Boston College?, Virginia will be in an unfamiliar position of late: the favorite. The Cavaliers will face two teams they are expected to beat, which is unfamiliar because they have faced higher-ranked opponents in their past seven matches.
The No. 50 Cavaliers (7-8, 3-2 ACC) will look to build off of their dramatic 4-3 upset against then-No. 15 Florida State Sunday afternoon at the Snyder Tennis Center. The improbable victory ended a three-match losing streak for Virginia, and the Cavaliers will look to start a new winning streak this weekend.
"I think that the main thing after winning a match like this is not to let down and be satisfied," senior Lindsey Pereira said, "but to let it give us some momentum and to go in there and really do some damage against those two teams."
Virginia coach Mark Guilbeau said he hopes to keep the positive energy from the Florida State match going this weekend and use it to get on a roll and finish the season strong.
"We're understanding that what we do this weekend has a lot to do with what we do the next weekend and the next weekend," Guilbeau said. "We know that Boston College and Maryland are both winnable matches for us. Those are two ACC matches that we should be able to pull out."
The Terrapins (3-11, 0-5 ACC) stand in last place in the ACC, although all three wins have come at College Park. Of those three wins, however, none came against a ranked opponent. Maryland especially has had troubles as of late, dropping five straight matches -- four against ACC opponents -- coming into Friday's match.
Despite running off seven straight victories after dropping their season opener, Boston College (9-5, 1-4 ACC) has recently played inconsistent tennis and has struggled in the ACC. Its only conference win was a 4-3 victory against Maryland. After the Eagles started off the season well, they have fallen off after moving into their ACC schedule and tougher matchups, including the upcoming Virginia match.
Although junior Amanda Rales said the Cavaliers feel confident about their chances this weekend, they are not taking these matches lightly.
"Maryland and Boston College, they're going to try to beat us," Rales said. "We have got to step up and we have got to finish it when we're in the lead, not give them any second chances. So, I think as long as we battle and get up, then we can definitely take them down."
Guilbeau said the team's position heading north this weekend is different than road matches earlier this season.
"In some ways when you're the underdog it's easy to come out and go after it and play loose," Guilbeau said. "These kids have shown -- as long as we respect the opponent well enough -- that we'll do the same thing, even as the favorites. I do think if we play our best we can win those matches, but it won't be easy"
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