The Virginia men’s and women’s tennis teams were both in action over the weekend. The No. 10 men’s team lost a hard-fought match against Louisville in its first ACC match of the season, while the No. 20 women’s team opened its season with a dominant victory over Towson.
No. 10 men’s tennis
On the men’s side, the Cavaliers (2-1, 0-1 ACC) narrowly lost 4-3 to the Cardinals (3-0, 1-0 ACC) at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center in Louisville, Ky. Virginia quickly took the doubles point after winning two matches by a score of 6-3. Freshman Christian Alshon won his singles match in straight sets to give the Cavaliers a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Cardinals proceeded to win three consecutive singles matches to take the lead, needing just one more victory to secure the match. However, Cavalier sophomore William Woodall recovered after dropping the first set to win his match and evened up the score at 3-3.
The deciding match was between No. 42 Cardinal junior Tin Chen and No. 68 Cavalier junior Gianni Ross. The players split the first two sets, but Chen escaped with a 6-4 victory in the decisive third set to seal the match for the Cardinals.
No. 20 women’s tennis
The Virginia women’s team (1-0, 0-0 ACC) began its season with a 7-0 sweep against Towson (1-1, 0-0 CAA) at Boar’s Head Sports Club.
The Cavaliers won the doubles point with ease after winning all three matches handily. The singles side was not much different, as all six Virginia players won in straight sets. No. 30 freshman Natasha Subash did not drop a game as she cruised to a 6-0, 6-0 victory. No. 78 sophomore Sofia Munera and junior Vivian Glozman also turned in dominant performances, winning their matches by an identical score of 6-0, 6-1.
Both the men’s and women’s teams are back in action next weekend as they participate in the ITA Kickoff Weekend with hopes of qualifying for ITA National Team Indoor Championships. The men will face Memphis on Saturday at Boar’s Head Sports Club before taking on either NC State or Utah State the following day.
The women’s team will head to Lawrence, Kan. to face No. 17 California Friday. They will then face either No. 19 Kansas or No. 22 Tennessee Saturday.