After a nearly two-week layoff, the Virginia women’s tennis team will head back into action Saturday in their lone doubleheader of the season. The No. 29 Cavaliers will host No. 44 Marshall at 9 a.m. Saturday followed by No. 74 Richmond at 3 p.m. at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.
Virginia (4-2) enters the weekend coming off a Feb. 8 loss to No. 22 Tennessee. The Cavaliers will hope to rebound against historically strong Marshall and in-state rival Richmond.
Virginia’s first contest of the day against Marshall (5-4) features a doubles rematch from the ITA East Regional event, pitting junior Jennifer Stevens and freshman Emily Fraser against Marshall seniors Kellie Schmitt and Karolina Soor. Stevens and Fraser played one of their best matches as a team and won their match in the loss against Tennessee. The Marshall duo, meanwhile, has consistently been one of the strongest doubles teams in collegiate tennis.
“That’s been one of the best teams in the country, [Schmitt and Soor],” Virginia coach Mark Guilbeau said. “We beat them [in the fall] in one of Jenny and Emily’s best matches to date, but that’s going to be a very tough match to duplicate.”
While the No. 1 doubles teams engage in a key rematch, Virginia also will hope to avenge last season’s team loss against Marshall. Guilbeau expects the Thundering Herd, anchored by ace Schmitt, to continue a recent tradition of challenging the Cavaliers.
“They have a very, very strong top player and you kind of have a somewhat even group after that, so they’re just as good,” Guilbeau said. “The number one incentive, other than them having beat us last year, is to be really ready to play our best and hopefully reverse that result.”
After facing Marshall, the Cavaliers will square off against Richmond (6-1) in the second half of the twin bill. Though not ranked as high as Marshall, the Spiders handled Maryland last week 5-2, proving their ability to compete with a team such as Virginia.
“A lot of people schedule double-headers against weak teams, but that’s not at all what we’re doing,” Guilbeau said. “They’re both solid, solid teams, and we’re going to have to play as well or better than we have up to this point to win both matches. We’ve got our hands full.”
Not only will the Cavaliers face tough competition this weekend, another challenge could be fatigue from playing two matches in one day. Throughout the week, Guilbeau has been preparing the team for what is sure to be a long stretch.
“We just explain to them that they’re going to have to stick with it even more than usual,” Guilbeau said. “They’re really going to have to pace themselves, work hard and maintain all the way throughout.”
Though players agree that Saturday will be tough physically, they believe their conditioning and coaching will allow them to play hard in both matches.
Guilbeau “has been talking to us about how challenging it’s going to be to play so much in one day,” sophomore Neela Vaez said. “They’re going to be watching to see if we come out just as strong in the second match, and [be] just as determined.”
Whether it is the opposing team or the struggle of playing a doubleheader, the Cavaliers go into this weekend confident in their ability to overcome their Marshall and Richmond foes.
“You don’t want to be grinding out a three-hour match against Marshall and then play another grinder against Richmond,” senior Amanda Rales said. “It’s really important to take care of business in both matches. It’s going to be a grind for sure.”
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