The Virginia women's tennis team has a chance to take a share of first place in the ACC in its last two road matches of the regular season this weekend, facing Georgia Tech Saturday and Clemson Sunday.
The No. 40 Cavaliers (9-8, 5-2 ACC) will look to continue their recent success against two crucial ACC opponents. Virginia has won three matches in a row, all in conference, following a thrilling upset win against then-No. 15 Florida State March 23.
This past weekend the Cavaliers bolstered their resume with two ACC road victories, defeating Maryland 6-1 Friday afternoon and Boston College 5-2 Sunday. Virginia dominated the struggling Terrapins (3-13, 0-7 ACC), as the Cavaliers swept the doubles point and won every singles match except one. The Cavaliers did not have much more trouble disposing of the Eagles (9-7, 1-6 ACC), regrouping after dropping the doubles point to again win five of six singles matches.
Although the Cavaliers knew they were favored to win both matches, they did not take anything for granted.
"Our goal for the two matches was not to go out there and get four wins, but to get six singles wins," senior Lindsey Pereira said. "Regardless of what happened between the singles and the doubles, we wanted to make sure that all six singles matches we're going out there to win."
Virginia will be playing for a share of first place in the ACC against the Yellow Jackets (14-4, 6-1 ACC) Saturday.
"It's a pretty cool thought," Pereira said. "Definitely, we're doing well; we have impressed ourselves and surprised ourselves with our wins and we can only keep going forward. It's always truly fun being underdogs and obviously it's going to be a really, really tough match."
The Cavaliers will be heavy underdogs. The defending national champion Yellow Jackets are currently ranked No. 2 in the country and feature seven players ranked in the top 100 nationally in singles, including No. 4 sophomore Amanda McDowell and No. 6 senior Kristi Miller.
"Georgia Tech is a really, really good team and they're really solid at every single spot," junior Amanda Rales said. "I think they are disciplined enough day in and day out to be where they're at."
Things will not get much easier for Virginia Sunday when it faces No. 23 Clemson (8-9, 4-3 ACC). The Tigers' record is misleading, as the team has played a brutal schedule. Eight of Clemson's nine losses have come against top-25 ranked schools, including losses to No. 2 Georgia Tech, No. 6 California and No. 9 UCLA. Clemson has also beaten some tough competition, including No. 7 Duke and No. 18 Florida State.
"Clemson is a solid team," Rales said. "A lot of the girls have really good hands. That can make it tougher if they're as determined as we are, but it can also be an advantage. We're underdogs in all of these upcoming matches, so it can be a plus if any of them don't think that we're going to take it to them."
Although the Cavaliers are content with their play in recent weeks, they are aware they will face two very challenging tasks this weekend and are cautious not to become overconfident.
"We're feeling pretty good, but we know that a tough weekend lies ahead of us," Pereira said. "So, while we're confident, it's not like we're going to go out there thinking we're going to beat these two teams just like that, it's going to be a matter of, again, a four-hour match"
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