No. 10 Virginia, coming off its highest-ranked win in over three years against No. 3 NC State, faced two more ranked ACC teams at home over the weekend. The Cavaliers (10-5, 4-3 ACC) faced off against No. 23 Syracuse Friday and another top-five opponent in No. 4 Florida State Sunday.
Virginia first took on the Orange (8-3, 3-2 ACC) Friday at the Snyder Tennis Center, blanking Syracuse 7-0. The Cavaliers started strong after juniors Vivian Glozman and Rosie Johanson, as well as sophomore Amber O’Dell and senior Chloe Gullickson, both won their doubles matches 6-1 to give Virginia an early 1-0 lead.
The Cavaliers continued their dominance through the singles matches. At the third spot, No. 95 O’Dell blanked her opponent 6-0, 6-0. Freshman Natasha Subhash and sophomore Sofia Munera both won in straight sets as well, giving the Cavaliers a 4-0 lead and clinching the match for Virginia. To round out the matches, Gullickson won 6-4, 6-4, Glozman prevailed 6-3, 6-3 and No. 47 Johanson was victorious 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
The Cavaliers were back in action Sunday against No. 4 Florida State (14-3, 3-1 ACC) in a back-and-forth contest at the Snyder Tennis Center. The Seminoles jumped out to an early lead after winning the doubles point. However, No. 86 Munera answered back by winning her singles match 6-3, 6-0. At the second singles spot, Johanson fell to No. 104 senior Nandini Das. Once again, the Cavaliers responded with No. 10 Subhash prevailing 6-2, 6-4 to tie the contest 2-2.
Virginia took its first and only lead of the match with Gullickson winning in straight sets against senior Andrea Garcia. The Cavaliers needed a win from either Glozman or O’Dell to knock off Florida State.
In the sixth singles spot, Glozman lost to freshman Alice Amendola. Glozman fell in a tiebreak in the first set and lost the second set 7-5 after losing her final service game. O’Dell won her first set 7-5 against No. 80 freshman Victoria Allen. The second set went in favor of Allen, forcing a decisive third and final set for the match. O’Dell had the advantage, 5-4, late in the third set, but Allen won the final three games of the match, prevailing 7-5 to give Florida State a hard-fought 4-3 win.
Despite the difficult loss, the Cavaliers still picked up their sixth ranked victory this season and keep their winning record in a powerful ACC over the weekend.
The Cavaliers will be back in action in Lake Nona, Fla. against Northwestern Saturday. Matches are set to start at 10 a.m.