It was a big weekend for the No. 12 Virginia women’s tennis team, as they had two important matches against No. 10 Duke Friday and No. 16 Georgia Tech Sunday at the Snyder Tennis courts. However, the Cavaliers (11-9, 6-5 ACC) could not pull out a win and ended the weekend with two tough ACC losses.
Friday, the Blue Devils (14-3, 7-2 ACC) travelled to Charlottesville and defeated the Cavaliers, 4-0. The match began outdoors but late thunderstorms forced the match to move indoors midway through singles.
The Cavaliers had to fight through adversity with two of their top three players sidelined with illness or injury.
In the match, the Cavaliers lost the doubles point, with Duke taking two out of three double competitions. In singles, the Cavaliers lost at two, four and six on the ladder, with Duke junior Chalena Scholl defeating junior Victoria Olivarez 6-3, 6-1, Virginia freshman Erica Susi falling to Duke sophomore Samantha Harris 6-3, 6-1, and Duke freshman Jessica Ho defeating senior Taylor Wingo 6-2, 6-3.
One bright spot on the day was senior Danielle Collins putting in a good performance in her unfinished match, where she was up 6-2, 5-2 before play was stopped.
Sunday started off cold, but ended up being a beautiful, sunny day for tennis. Georgia Tech (13-6, 8-2 ACC) defeated the Cavaliers in an incredibly close 4-3 match. The Cavaliers lost the doubles point, as Georgia Tech came out hot, taking two sets quickly.
The match became interesting in the singles point. The Cavaliers lost at two on the ladder with senior Julia Elbaba falling against Georgia Tech sophomore Paige Hourigan 6-1, 6-1. Collins responded by winning at number one against sophomore Johnnise Renaud 6-3, 6-2.
The Cavaliers lost at number six and were facing a 3-1 deficit. Virginia had a spirited comeback when both freshman Meghan Kelley and senior Stephanie Nauta dug out two tough wins to tie the match at 3-3. The Cavaliers couldn’t close the deal as Georgia Tech sophomore Alexis Prokopuik defeated junior Victoria Olivarez 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the deciding match.
It was a tough weekend all around for the Cavaliers, but there is still room for optimism, Collins said.
“I think we had a good effort across the board, it didn't quite go the way we wanted to,” she said. “But we have a couple more matches in the regular season and then the ACC tournament, so we have some more opportunities our way. So, this kind of gives us a little more insight into what we need to do and the adjustments we need to make for the rest of the season.”
Looking forward, Collins knows she needs to be a leader for this team and help them get over the hump.
“There’s definitely been an emphasis on working really hard and bringing a lot of intensity to practice and in the locker room,” she said. “And then also using some of the losses we’ve had as a positive and a learning experience so we can do better in the future.”
Looking back on the weekend’s defeats, coach Mark Guilbeau knows just how much potential this team has if they can put it all together.
“[It was a] tough weekend obviously. I thought we were really spirited on Friday and I mentioned that,” Guilbeau said. “[Sunday] we came out a little bit less than that and maybe to credit Georgia Tech, they were really on it at the beginning and they also imposed. I thought we fought back, but really the doubles comes back to hurt us a lot, and then we fight back and ends up making it a really good match, but a lot of credit to both teams, but Georgia Tech was just a bit better today.”
Looking to the future, Guilbeau understands the Cavaliers have a hard road ahead, so they will need to take advantage of their coming days off.
“Number one, we’re going to rest a little bit, and get a chance to have two days off, which is important,” Guilbeau said. “Just keep perspective like we have. I constantly try and teach other things aside from tennis… but keep our heads up and understand that when the spirit is strong, we’re going to do better.
In all, it was a tough weekend for the Cavaliers with an especially devastating loss against Georgia Tech. However, if the team fixes some minor inconsistencies, they can make some noise in the postseason.
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