Improvement -- it has been the theme of the Virginia women's tennis team's season.
"From the very beginning we definitely had room to improve," senior Lindsey Pereira said. "But we've definitely made those improvements plus more and we've definitely exceeded a lot of people's expectations."
The Cavaliers knew they had to improve from day one, as they dropped their first match 1-6 to a much lower ranked Marshall team. The loss helped put the Cavaliers' position into perspective.
"The loss to Marshall was a big loss," coach Mark Guilbeau said. "It helped the players to see that if we want to achieve the goals that they set, we're going to have to do a lot more and make some serious improvements."
After that first match, Virginia went through an up-and-down stretch, beating some teams it was expected to beat, including then-No. 64 rival Virginia Tech, but also falling at home to then-No. 50 Ohio State and getting swept at home by then-No. 15 William & Mary, not even winning one set in the latter.
Then came the Tennessee match; the Volunteers were ranked No. 23 at the time, and Virginia appeared to be on the verge of pulling off the big upset. The dual match was tied at 3-3 and sophomore Jennifer Stevens -- who at one point held a 3-0 lead in the second set after winning the first -- was the only Cavalier left on the court. Stevens, however, started cramping and was not able to finish off her opponent. As a result, the Cavaliers suffered a heartbreaking loss. Despite the defeat, however, many players and coaches have expressed how crucial that match was in turning Virginia's season around.
"Even a loss, at that point, it was like 'Wow, we can really do well this season, we just lost 4-3 and were completely in the match against a [top] 20 team,'" Pereira said.
Virginia continued to gradually improve after the Tennessee match, even though it did not always show up on the scoreboard because of the level of competition the Cavaliers were facing.
The Cavaliers' efforts culminated when Virginia upset then-No. 15 Florida State 4-3, coming back in two matches at the No. 1 and No. 3 courts to pull off the upset.
"We were able to pull through a match like FSU," Pereira said. "That, in the end really helps us, both mentally and according to the rankings."
The Cavaliers continued to show improvement this past weekend in the ACC Tournament, defeating Virginia Tech 4-2 in the first round of the tournament before falling to Duke 1-4 in the quarterfinals.
The Virginia Tech match "felt like one of our best matches," junior Amanda Rales said. "I just feel like we really took care of all the little things throughout the week of practice ... Within less than a week, our match against Duke was a lot better all around. I think we gave ourselves a pretty good shot against them."
The Cavaliers are still awaiting a possible NCAA bid April 29 and are hopeful about their chances, as they feel there is more they can accomplish with their season. In addition to the team possibly making the tournament, Pereira and junior Maggie Yahner are optimistic about making the doubles tournament, and Stevens also has a shot at making the singles tournament.
"If we're able to get into NCAAs, there's still so much more I feel like we can be doing ... if we get that chance to play," Rales said.
With only one senior graduating, the future looks bright for the Cavaliers. Guilbeau expressed confidence that Virginia will build off this season and continue to move forward in the years to come.
"To have the nucleus of our top four returning for next year is also extremely exciting," Guilbeau said. "Especially with the way that those three that are coming back ... have really progressed through the year. I think they have a chance next year to be on a great, great team and we can all do some really great things"
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