The Virginia women’s tennis team travels this weekend to face off against ACC foes Duke and North Carolina. The Cavaliers, ranked No. 8 in the ACC, hopes victories against fourth-ranked Duke and fifth-ranked North Carolina will propel them to the top of the conference.
No. 26 Virginia (10-6, 3-4 ACC) heads into the weekend following two tough losses, falling 3-4 to then-No. 25 Florida State and then 1-6 to then-No. 5 Miami. Coach Mark Guilbeau hopes the team can rebound from its performances last week.
“What we’ve got to do basically is piece all the good tennis we’ve played in a couple matches together and play a complete match,” Guilbeau said. “If we do that, we’re good enough to win.”
No. 9 Duke (14-3, 4-1 ACC), which the Cavaliers will face Saturday, is fresh off a tight 4-3 win against then-No. 18 North Carolina. The Blue Devils boast four players ranked in the top-100 nationally, including No. 28 sophomore Ellah Nze. Although Nze dropped her match against North Carolina, she has managed to notch a 23-7 singles record this season. No. 31 freshman Mallory Cecil, meanwhile, playing in the No. 1 singles position for the team, has only lost one conference match this season.
Though the Tar Heels (14-6, 4-2 ACC) appear to be a weaker opponent than Duke individually, they are strong on the doubles end of the court. Despite the losing effort against the Blue Devils last week, the squad swept its doubles matches and was bolstered by a win from junior Sanaz Marand and senior Sophie Grabinski, the No. 4 pair in the country.
To challenge both the Blue Devils and the Tar Heels, Guilbeau said each member of his team worked recently to adjust her game based on some specific ideas from Guilbeau and assistant coach Troy Porco. Transitioning their style of play has not come easily for many of the players, but Guilbeau does not attribute this to lack of effort.
“I know they’re trying their best,” Guilbeau said. “That’s never a question. I think if they [focus on their individual goals] and develop greater ownership within them, for their own games, that’s going to be critical. Then I think we’ll ultimately reach our very highest potential when they do that, and when they’re able to absorb and implement what their coaches are asking them to do.”
Though the advice from their coaches is challenging, the players have reacted positively.
“We have a lot of team meetings with the coaches and they’re all really smart and know what they’re doing,” junior Jennifer Stevens said. “We just have to listen and we’ll pretty much go out there and be able to win every match with them as our coaches.”
Freshman Emily Fraser, who is working on improving her serve and her approach to the net, complimented the coaches for handling their jobs well and effectively communicating to the players what they want.
“What I think is great is that [the coaches] just tell it straight to you how it is,” Fraser said, “and they’re not going to have any doubts or hard feelings about it. They definitely approach me and are totally honest and 100 percent let me know how it is and I really appreciate that.”
Meanwhile, senior Amanda Rales saw improvements in her game last weekend that she hopes to carry into this weekend’s North Carolina road trip.
“A lot of my goals were about my volleys and my movement forward,” Rales said. “My lobs were really good — that was one thing I wanted to work on that I didn’t do well the previous weekend.”
Guilbeau and the rest of the coaching staff hope the team’s hard work and adjustments will pay off this weekend against two formidable opponents.
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