Fresh off of their victory against then-No. 1 ranked North Carolina, Virginia women’s tennis opened ACC play Friday with a 4-2 triumph over Notre Dame. The Cavaliers (10-2, 2-0 ACC) dropped two singles points, but straight set victories from junior Elaine Chervinksy and junior Melodie Collard elevated them to victory over the Fighting Irish (9-3, 1-1 ACC).
Virginia opened the match with a doubles contest between sophomore Annabelle Xu and senior Sara Ziodato against a Notre Dame duo of sophomore Akari Matsuno and senior Yashna Yellayi. Virginia won the match 6-3, earning their first point of the doubles competition.
No. 20 duo Collard and Chervinsky clinched the doubles point for Virginia with a 7-5 victory over Notre Dame’s No. 32 duo senior Julia Andreach and junior Carrie Beckman. The Cavaliers have only dropped the doubles point three times this season, and the duo was not going to let it happen a fourth time.
Moving on to singles, No. 65 Chervinsky earned Virginia its second point with a smooth 6-2, 6-1 win in straight sets over Notre Dame junior Nibi Ghosh. The Fighting Irish struck back quickly with a straight-set victory of their own. Andreach defeated No. 113 Xu 6-2, 6-2, earning Notre Dame’s first point of the match.
On court six, No. 92 Collard found herself locked in a tiebreaker battle in her first set against Matsuno. She took the set 12-10 after fighting hard for the final points and proceeded to secure the victory in the second set with a 6-4 win.
On court four, Fighting Irish sophomore Bojana Pozder competed against No. 72 Ziodato. They went to three sets after going 1-1 on the first two with scores of 6-2. Pozder won the third set, also 6-2, bringing the match score to 3-2. However, in another three-set victory, graduate student Natasha Subhash defeated Yellayi 6-1, 4-6 and 6-3. The win secured Virginia’s win over Notre Dame, a successful start to ACC play.
The Cavaliers have been rising in the rankings since the beginning of the spring season. While there is a long way to go until the ACC and NCAA Tournaments, it is safe to say that they are in for success if they can continue playing as they have been. As ACC play continues to heat up, it will be vital for Virginia to secure as many decisive victories as possible to prove they belong near the top of the rankings.
Virginia will travel to Georgia Tech for another ACC matchup Friday at 1 p.m.. The Cavaliers will look to soundly beat the unranked Yellow Jackets. So far this season, Virginia has not lost a match to an unranked opponent, and they will look to continue that success in this upcoming match.
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