Hot off of recent victories, No. 4 Virginia traveled to No. 26 Georgia Tech and No. 46 Clemson over the weekend, closing a month of road matches before their bye week. The Cavaliers (12-2, 4-0 ACC) handily defeated both the Yellow Jackets (6-5, 2-1 ACC) and the Tigers (9-5, 1-3 ACC) to continue to prove their place at the top of the national ranking.
Friday — Virginia 5, Georgia Tech 2
The Cavaliers’ first win of the weekend came Friday when they traveled to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets came out swinging, handily winning the doubles point. The No. 18 Georgia Tech duo of junior Kate Sharabura and senior Carol Lee took care of Virginia’s No. 17-ranked senior Hibah Shaikh and graduate student Natasha Subhash, winning the match 6-3. Georgia Tech sealed the doubles point victory on court three when the Virginia team of senior Sara Ziodato and sophomore Annabelle Xu were outlasted by junior Kylie Bilchev and sophomore Alejandra Cruz in another 6-3 loss.
Whatever momentum Georgia Tech may have had after clinching the doubles point didn’t last long, as Virginia swiftly responded by winning five matches in a row to triumph over the match. No. 72 Ziodato got things going for the Cavaliers, winning in straight 6-2 sets against senior Mahak Jain to pull the score even at 1-1. No. 20 Shaikh put the Cavaliers ahead for the first time of the day with another straight set victory, easily beating Bilchev 6-1, 6-2.
On court three, Subhash put Virginia even further ahead against Cruz. After winning the first set quickly 6-2, Subhash found herself in a 4-1 deficit in the second. However, she battled back by winning five straight games to win the set 6-4, Virginia’s third straight-set victory in a row.
The Cavaliers clinched the victory on court five when No. 65 junior Elaine Chervinsky topped freshman Scarlett Nicholson in yet another straight-set victory. The first set was decided by a tiebreak at 6-6, which Chervinsky won in a dogfight that saw ties at three and five-all. The Cavalier did not drop a point in the second set to clinch victory for Virginia.
Although the Cavaliers had already earned the win, play concluded on courts one and six. On court six, No. 92 junior Melodie Collard extended the Cavaliers’ lead in a three set victory over Sharabura. They split the first two points, Collard winning the first 6-2 while Sharabura won the second 6-3. Collard easily won the last set 6-3 to extend Virginia’s lead 5-1.
Georgia Tech ended their day on a high note with a victory on court one. No. 39 Lee defeated No. 113 Xu in straight sets 6-3 and 7-5 for the Yellow Jackets’ only singles point of the day, bringing the final score to 5-2 in favor of Virginia.
Sunday — Virginia 4, Clemson 0
The Cavaliers concluded their weekend road trip with a decisive 4-0 victory over No. 46 Clemson Sunday. Although they dropped the doubles point against Georgia Tech, the Cavaliers did no such thing against the Tigers, decisively winning the first two matches to clinch the point. The No. 20 duo of Chervinsky and Collard earned the first win with a 6-4 victory over the Tigers’ sophomore Leigh Van Zyl and junior Cristina Mayorova. No. 17 Shaikh and Subhash finished the job with a 6-1 win over junior Sophia Hatton and graduate student Alina Tsyurpalevych, bringing the Cavaliers to a 1-0 lead.
Virginia earned its second point of the match when Mayorova retired on court one in her match against Xu. At the time of her retirement, Mayorova was trailing 5-2 in the first set. The next two victories were swift on courts two and six where Shaikh defeated Tiger junior Daniella Medvedeva 6-0, 6-2 and Collard defeated junior Alexandra Anttila 6-3, 6-1, respectively.
The victory against Clemson was Virginia’s fifth straight. Its only two losses this season have been against Michigan. As ACC play continues through April, the Cavaliers will look to remain undefeated in the conference. Last season, they only lost three regular season games to ACC teams.
Virginia will now have a bye week before traveling to Blacksburg to take on Virginia Tech March 14. Virginia is 42-5 in women’s tennis all-time against Virginia Tech and will be looking to extend that record.
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