The No. 5 Virginia women’s tennis team wrapped up its final ACC road weekend with a strong 4-1 win Sunday morning over Syracuse at Drumlins Country Club in Syracuse, N.Y. The Cavaliers (17-4, 9-2 ACC) extended their winning streak to five matches and got their 13th consecutive victory over the Orange (8-9, 1-9 ACC) in an all-around dominant performance.
Virginia set the tone early by sweeping all three doubles courts to secure the opening point. Freshman Martina Genis Salas and junior Annabelle Xu struck first with a 6-3 win at Line 2, improving to 13-5 in dual matches this season. At Line 3, graduate student Sara Ziodato and freshman Karolina Kozakova matched that result with a 6-3 victory of their own, marking Kozakova’s first doubles win since early February.
At the top spot, senior duo Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard, currently ranked No. 1 in the nation, sealed the doubles point with a 6-4 win over the No. 82 pair of senior Miyuka Kimoto and sophomore Nelly Knezkova. The win improved their record to 28-2 overall and 11-1 in dual match play this season.
The Cavaliers continued their momentum into singles play. At Line 5, Collard delivered a convincing 6-1, 6-4 win over freshman Monika Wojcik to put Virginia up 2-0. Chervinsky followed shortly after with a composed 6-4, 6-1 victory against Knezkova at Line 2, pushing her dual match singles record to 9-1.
Syracuse responded with a point at Line 3, where No. 30 Annabelle Xu fell in straight sets to sophomore Serafima Shastova. But Virginia quickly closed the door on any comeback hopes, as freshman Isabelle Lacy clinched the team win at Line 4. In one of the day’s most competitive matches, Lacy edged out junior Anastasia Sysoeva in two consecutive tiebreaks, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (4), showcasing major poise in high-pressure moments.
Two singles matches went unfinished. At Line 1, Ziodato — ranked No. 32 nationally — took the first set 6-2 before dropping the second in a tiebreak. She was up 4-1 in the third when the match was called. At Line 6, sophomore Blanca Pico Navarro had split sets with senior Shiori Ito and trailed 0-2 in the third at the time of the clinch. The loss snapped a three-match win streak for Navarro in singles play.
With just one match remaining in the regular season, the Cavaliers will return home to host in-state rival Virginia Tech for Senior Day at 4 p.m. Thursday at the Boar’s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville.
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