Tied at three with Richmond entering doubles play, the Virginia women's tennis team took two of the three doubles matches to claim a hard-earned 5-4 victory yesterday at the Snyder Tennis Center.
The Cavaliers (10-5, 0-1 ACC), who avenged a disappointing loss to the Spiders last year, split the No. 1 and No. 2 doubles matches, but Kelly Weaver and Jennifer Tuchband outlasted their Spider opponents at No. 3 to give Virginia the win. The Cav duo came from behind against Richmond's Vanessa Bagnato and Elyse Salahi, battling through a marathon final game to grab an 8-6 win.
Virginia sophomore Amy O'Donnell, who earned a straight-set victory at No. 1 singles, praised the Cavaliers' determination in doubles play, especially after the Spiders won last season's meeting on the strength of a doubles sweep.
"We had a lot of trouble last year, especially since we lost all three doubles sets," O'Donnell said. "Today when we had to win two of the three, we did. I'm really proud of us."
Virginia began the afternoon by splitting the six singles matches. O'Donnell beat Spider senior Elizabeth Cascarilla, freshman Henriette Williams won at No. 3 and Weaver won at No. 6. Tuchband at No. 5 and Christie Schweer at No. 2 fell to their Richmond foes and Virginia junior Leslie Cook lost a lengthy, hard-fought match with Jodi Keyoner at No. 4.
Cascarilla and fellow senior Janelle Williams dealt Schweer and Cook an 8-2 loss to open doubles play, but O'Donnell and sophomore Christine Kim rebounded with a Virginia win to set the stage for Weaver and Tuchband's heroics.
"I'm really proud of this team for executing some of the things we've been working hard on all season," Cavalier coach Phil Rogers said. "In singles we put in a great effort today, and then of course we finished them off with two out of three [wins] in doubles. [The Spiders] have got a good coach and a good program and you can expect a great match with them win or lose every year. The difference between this year and last year is our doubles and it showed up today"
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