Things never come too easy. For the Virginia women's tennis team yesterday, a 5-2 victory over Virginia Commonwealth was no exception.
When VCU (7-4) brought only four players to face the Cavaliers in an in-state showdown at the Boar's Head Sports Club, Virginia's upset over the team ranked 10 spots higher seemed to be in the bag. Injuries forced Ram senior Andrea Ondrisova and junior Martina Nedelkova to sit the match out. It was VCU's fourth consecutive match without Nedelkova, the nation's sixth-ranked player. With their limited roster, the Rams forfeited one doubles and two singles matches.
The Cavaliers (7-4) took an early 3-0 lead going into singles play after gaining two singles points off forfeits and sweeping the doubles contests for the doubles point. Of the four matches remaining, Virginia needed only one win to shut the door on VCU.
But when all four Cavaliers dropped the first set of their respective matches, Virginia's second straight victory was not as close as it seemed.
"Going into the match, we were very concerned about players assuming we were going to win and waiting for somebody else to win," Virginia coach Phil Rogers said. "It was a little bit of a distraction. We were like a basketball team with a 15-point lead. Mentally, we had to figure out how to deal with it."
The Cavaliers dug a hole for themselves early into singles as senior Amy O'Donnell and freshman Laura James both lost their first sets, 3-6, and sophomore Henriette Williams and senior Christie Schweer dropped theirs, 1-6 and 2-6, respectively. While O'Donnell and James went on to lose their matches in straight sets (3-6, 0-6, and 3-6, 3-6 respectively), Williams and Schweer stormed back from their deficits to seal the victory for Virginia.
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"It was really hard being down," Schweer, who won her match, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, over VCU's Sylvia Urickova, said. "After I lost the first set, I heard everybody else on the team had lost their first sets. I knew we only needed to win one more, and it helped me motivate myself and get more intense."
The story was the same for Williams, who defeated the Rams' Raluca Ciulei, 1-6, 6-2, 6-2. After a slow and somewhat sloppy first set, Williams pulled herself together. By the third set, in which she took the first four games, she was in complete control.
"Christie and Henriette really rose to the occasion," Rogers said. "They took what they have learned and practiced to heart and executed really well. It was just a heroic effort in gathering their concentrations, composing themselves and doing what they needed to do."
The victory was Virginia's first over the Rams in more than four years. It followed the Cavaliers' win over Virginia Tech, 5-2, last Wednesday and gave Virginia its second consecutive victory over an in-state rival.
"It definitely helps our confidence," Rogers said. "We put in a really good effort and responded very well to the situation"
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