The Virginia women's tennis team scored its biggest victory of the season Sunday at the Snyder Tennis Center, upsetting No. 15 Florida State 4-3.
The No. 50 Cavaliers (7-8, 3-2 ACC) got off to a strong start by taking the doubles point, which ultimately proved decisive in the match. Virginia shuffled its doubles lineups, moving senior Lindsey Pereira and junior Maggie Yahner from No. 2 to No. 1 and pairing junior Amanda Rales with sophomore Jennifer Stevens at No. 2 doubles. The Cavaliers had no trouble adjusting to the new pairings, as Pereira and Yahner defeated Florida State's duo of freshman Federica Suess and senior Carolin Walter 8-3 in the No. 1 slot, and Rales and Stevens upset the Seminoles' No. 53-ranked tandem of freshman Katie Rybakova and junior Ania Rynarzewska.
"We had some great doubles today," Virginia coach Mark Guilbeau said. "With different pairings, different lineup, it's really impressive on the kids' part to do that. It was smart the way we matched it up, for sure."
The Seminoles (12-3, 2-2 ACC) fought back however, winning three of the first four singles matches to take a 3-2 lead, leaving Pereira at No. 3 and Rales at No. 1 to decide the outcome of the match for the Cavaliers.
Pereira was up first. After taking the first set against No. 100 Walter, 6-4, she dropped the second set 3-6 and was down 4-2 at one point in the third set. With her back to the ropes, however, Pereira was able to pull through; she went on to win the next four games, taking the set 6-4 and the match.
"When I went down 4-2 in the third, I just, I knew I wanted it more than her," Pereira said. "And it just kind of came down to desire, and I just made her play. If she won the point it was because she was going to hit a great shot, not because I was going to give it to her."
Pereira's win left it all up to Rales, who was facing a much higher-ranked opponent in No. 68 Seminoles sophomore Lauren Macfarlane, as has been the case for both Rales and the Cavaliers for most of the season. Rales won the first set 7-5; however, she went on to lose 10 of the next 12 games, losing the second set 6-1 and falling behind 4-1 in the deciding third set. She did not give up and fought back to win the next four games, giving her a 5-4 lead and a couple of match points.
Macfarlane regrouped and scored four straight points to win the game, tying the score at 5-5. Macfarlane started the next game with three straight points, taking a 40-0 lead, but Rales did not go away. Rales managed five straight points, taking a 6-5 lead, and this time she did not squander the chance to finish Macfarlane off, winning the set 7-5 and giving Virginia the dramatic upset.
"It's an unbelievable feeling to pull a team through a win like that," Rales said. "And you couldn't have done it without everybody else so, I just felt an obligation, a responsibility to win."
The weekend was not completely positive for the Cavaliers, as they fell to No. 12 Miami (10-4, 3-2 ACC) 6-1 Saturday afternoon at Snyder. Virginia won the doubles point but then fell behind early in singles and could not make a comeback.
"I think what really got us yesterday is we played great doubles, and then they came out and just absolutely dominated us in 5 of the first 6 sets of singles," Guilbeau said. "They averaged a 6-1 set in those five [matches] that they won and that basically, in many ways, ends a match."
The magnitude of the Florida State win is huge for the Cavaliers, who hope to build off it in order to finish the season strong and to improve their postseason outlook.
"This is a season-changer, period," Guilbeau said. "Especially with the way things are going around the country this year, it doesn't take too many big wins to make the NCAA and to move yourself up"
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