No. 2 Virginia women’s tennis delivered an assertive 4-0 victory over Stanford Sunday afternoon at the Virginia Tennis Facility at Boar’s Head Resort, securing another strong ACC win. After losing a close match Friday to 26th-ranked California, the Cavaliers (13-4, 5-1 ACC) came out strong with hard fights in doubles and singles against the 28th-ranked Cardinal (11-4, 4-2 ACC).
Virginia began by taking the doubles point with wins at Lines 1 and 3. Seniors and top-ranked duo Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard continued their stellar season with a 6-4 victory over Stanford senior Connie Ma and freshman Valerie Glozman, moving in when necessary and working seamlessly at the net.
Virginia clinched the doubles point when graduate student Sara Ziodato and junior Meggie Navarro secured a 6-3 win at No. 3 doubles, giving the Cavaliers an early 1-0 lead. Virginia has been consistently winning the doubles point this spring, allowing for early momentum going into singles.
Stanford’s senior Valencia Xu and sophomore Caroline Driscoll won at Line 2, 6-4, over Virginia’s freshman Martina Genis Salas and junior Annabelle Xu, but the Cavaliers had already secured the point.
In singles, Virginia wasted no time in closing out the match. Chervinsky dominated Xu with a 6-2, 6-0 win at Line 3, followed by Genis Salas cruising to a 6-0, 6-1 victory at Line 6.
Collard sealed the victory for Virginia with a hard earned 6-4, 7-6 (10) win over Driscoll at No. 4 singles, securing the fourth and final point to clinch the match.
“We competed really well,” Coach Sara O’Leary said after the match. “Losing the first set at [Line 5] and coming back and winning that second set, losing the first set at [Line 1] and coming back winning that second set.”
With the match decided, the remaining singles contests were left unfinished, giving Virginia a 4-0 sweep over the Cardinal.
The Cavaliers improved to 9-1 at home this season and 5-1 in ACC play. Looking ahead to the last few weeks of regular season matches, the team hopes to keep improving and stay healthy.
“I think that this team is really strong,” O’Leary said. “We just need to keep working every day and keep getting better and staying healthy.”
Virginia returns to action next weekend with a pair of home conference matches against Louisville Friday at 4 p.m. and Notre Dame Sunday at 11 a.m.
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