The No. 48 Virginia women's tennis team closed out its regular season with a four-match losing streak, falling to No. 13 North Carolina 1-6 Saturday and No. 9 Duke 0-7 Sunday at the Snyder Tennis Center.
The highlights of the weekend for the Cavaliers (9-12, 5-6 ACC) were two upset victories at No. 1 doubles by senior Lindsey Pereira and junior Maggie Yahner. The tandem defeated the Tar Heels' No. 3-ranked duo of sophomore Sanaz Marand and junior Sophie Grabinski Saturday afternoon before topping the Blue Devils No. 5-ranked team of junior Melissa Mang and sophomore Amanda Granson Sunday, showing their win Saturday was no fluke.
"I knew that Lindsey and I could beat [the Tar Heels duo] but it's another thing to actually do it," Yahner said. "We had some rough patches, and Lindsey helped me a little bit, and we pulled through. And then [Sunday] I held up my end of the bargain a little more, and we really solidified by beating the [No. 5] team, so I'm definitely ecstatic right now, to say the least."
Pereira attributed the doubles success to the close bond she and Yahner have formed.
"Me and Maggie -- we've talked about far surpassing anybody's expectations about us, and that's just been really, really fun," Pereira said. "We've connected in a way that we never thought, probably other people didn't think ... and just played unbelievable doubles and had an amazing time doing it."
Despite Pereira and Yahner's big wins, Virginia still lost the doubles point in both of the weekend's matches, facing defeat at both the No. 2 and No. 3 courts. Against the Tar Heels (17-7, 8-3 ACC), junior Amanda Rales and sophomore Jennifer Stevens rallied from a 7-2 deficit to force a tiebreaker, but ultimately lost the match.
Despite the losses, Virginia coach Mark Guilbeau expressed content with the Cavaliers' doubles play.
"The overall [doubles] level was good," Guilbeau said. "I think if we get Amanda and Jenny doing a little bit more at the beginning of their sets, we'll come through real well on all three courts."
The Cavaliers' lone singles win of the weekend came at the No. 2 court against North Carolina, where Stevens upset No. 29 Tar Heel sophomore Katrina Tsang.
Despite losing both matches by a wide margin, the Cavaliers feel they accomplished their primary objective of continuing to improve and building positive momentum going into the ACC Tournament.
"One of our goals this weekend was that we didn't take any steps backwards," Yahner said. "And we feel good going into ACCs, and so I think that's the best that we can ask for right now."
The Cavaliers will open play in the ACC Tournament Thursday in Altamonte Springs, Fla. against rival Virginia Tech. Guilbeau feels good about the team's chances, and despite Virginia's current losing streak, he likes the direction in which the Cavaliers are moving as they head into the tournament.
"You almost have to move beyond the score and really look within the match," Guilbeau said. "We've played two of our best opponents the last couple of days. My main concern is that we have got to make sure we're playing well enough to beat teams that we should beat, and I think we're going to have that opportunity coming up in the first round of the ACC [Tournament]"
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