Overcoming adversity has been a theme for the Virginia women’s tennis team. Last week was no different.
After going through what senior Amanda Rales described as “some team things” in the days leading up to the weekend, the Cavaliers put their problems behind them to play some of their best tennis in the last two regular season matches. Seniors Maggie Yahner and Rales set the example in their final matches at Snyder Tennis Center, going 4-0 each in singles and teaming to go 2-0 in doubles on the weekend. The two helped No. 29 Virginia defeat No. 37 Wake Forest Saturday and unranked N.C. State Sunday, both by a 5-2 margin.
Virginia coach Mark Guilbeau altered the bottom of the singles lineup during Virginia’s final two matches of the regular season. After playing freshmen Claire Bartlett and Karoline Steiro at the bottom two singles slots the previous three matches, Guilbeau slid Yahner and sophomore Neela Vaez into those positions. Guilbeau also bumped Bartlett out of the doubles lineup for the first time since Feb. 21 against Richmond.
“Without sounding like a parent or mom or something like that, I’m really, really proud of the six people who were out there,” Rales said. “You could say that maybe it wasn’t the strongest lineup that we’ve had, but I wouldn’t have had it any other way.”
When asked about where the lineup stands moving forward, Guilbeau said, “The team sometimes comes to the coach and shares the important decisions. As a coach, I’m going to do what the team tells me if it’s unanimous.”
The modifications appeared to benefit Virginia; Yahner and Vaez responded by going 3-1 in singles, and Virginia won all six doubles matches during the weekend. Guilbeau would not comment on whether the team came to him specifically about the lineup change for the two matches but did offer the following explanation.
“We’re always basing things on what’s best for the team and what the team wants,” Guilbeau said. “The thing I want to state is that this team is showing the greatest level of determination that it’s shown all year.”
That determination was encapsulated by Rales and Yahner, who were honored in a senior day ceremony before Sunday’s match. After handily winning her singles match Saturday 6-4, 6-3 at No. 3 singles, Rales finished her career at Snyder with an emotional, comeback victory in straight sets. Down a break at 5-3 in the first and 4-3 in the second to N.C. State junior Daria Petrovic, Rales battled back in both sets to win the final match of the afternoon 7-5, 7-6 (7-2).
“That sums up everything — her career, what she’s meant to the team,” Guilbeau said. “For Amanda’s [win] to be so hard-fought and so well-earned is exactly what this is all about.”
Yahner also had a comeback in her own right. For most of the season, Guilbeau had limited Yahner — formerly a staple in the singles lineup — to doubles play as she recovered from arthroscopic knee surgery that she underwent last spring. The past weekend, however, Guilbeau penciled Yahner into the singles slate for the first time since Virginia’s match against TCU Jan. 24, and she responded with two straight-set victories, including a dominant 6-1, 6-0 victory Sunday against N.C. State and a more tightly contested 7-5, 6-1 win Saturday.
“Mark [Guilbeau] was like, ‘I’m really happy for you that you pulled [Saturday’s] match out,’ and I was like, ‘You know what? I’m really happy for me, too,’” Yahner said. “I didn’t even think I was going to play singles again and I’m glad I got the opportunity and was able to pull through.”
Freshman Emily Fraser also had a successful weekend, first with a convincing upset of Wake Forest No. 55 junior Sasha Kulikova 6-3, 6-1 Saturday. Fraser then lost her Sunday match to N.C. State No. 104 sophomore Lenka Hojckova 6-1, 7-5. Down 5-1 in the second, Fraser rallied to win four consecutive games to even the score at five-all before running out of gas.
“Emily has shown some serious toughness, especially for a first-year kid,” Guilbeau said. “Even the matches that she hasn’t won, it does seem like wins. I hope she keeps believing that, because she’s doing enough good things in there that it basically is as good as a win.”
At No. 4 singles, freshman Lindsey Hardenbergh, a Cavalier Daily staff writer, also managed to pull out a win but dropped her match Saturday. Vaez and junior No. 88 Jennifer Stevens each went 1-1 in singles; Vaez dropped her Saturday match at No. 5 singles 6-2, 6-3 before she was swapped with Yahner to No. 6 singles Sunday, where she took an easy 6-0, 6-2 victory. Stevens won a three-setter Saturday 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 before dropping a 10-point tiebreak and thus the match Sunday, 7-5, 4-6, 10-4.
Virginia resumes play as the seven-seed at the ACC Tournament in Cary, N.C. The Cavaliers’ first-round opponent will be No. 10-seed Boston College.
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