Despite a passionate effort against two ranked ACC teams, the Cavaliers dropped a pair of matches on the road this past weekend against No. 13 North Carolina and No. 4 Duke.
Virginia had been preparing for the weekend and was focused on playing up to the high level of tennis that was expected from the two Carolina powerhouses.
The competition began Saturday afternoon at North Carolina as Virginia swept two out of three doubles to capture the doubles point.
"In doubles play all three Virginia teams went out there to win," freshman Lori Stern said. "We were ready to play and had confidence that we could win."
At No. 2, Stern and fellow freshman Kristen James came out especially strong, keeping a seven-game winning streak alive and freshmen Lauren Bruch and Kyle Montgomery at the No. 3 position played one of their best doubles matches of the season. Seniors Henriette Williams and Jen Tuchband fought against a tough challenge at No. 1 against the No. 17 ranked Tarheel doubles team but were not able to pull it out after falling behind early.
"The doubles at UNC was strong overall," James said. "We were really fired up and came out as a team. Everyone was determined to win" the point.
Yet after the solid opening Virginia encountered fierce competition, as the team only was able to clinch five of the six matches.
Stern came up big with the sole singles victory of the evening.
"In this match I just really wanted to win," Stern said.
After recent battles at the No. 3 position, coach Phil Rogers moved Stern down to No. 4 to work confidence back into her game.
"I knew I would have a tough match at any position against UNC or Duke, but I was up for the challenge," Stern said. "I played well throughout the match and just kept thinking about winning, not only for myself, but for the team especially. I knew they were having tough matches and I knew that it would be essential for me to win."
The fighting was intense on the other courts as well, with several close matches that could have gone either way. The closing count for the match would come to 5-2.
After taking the night to recoup, the Cavaliers came out ready to fight the Blue Devils on Sunday.
The doubles effort was strong and Duke took the point only after an aggressive contest.
Again, the No. 42 ranked James-Stern duo held their match against the No. 4 ranked Duke team, and although the women at the No. 1 and No. 3 courts put up a valiant fight, Duke claimed the close point.
"Kristen and I have so much confidence in our doubles that we just didn't think it was even possible for us to lose," Stern said. "This attitude has helped up win at least 10 consecutive matches. We are really excited for NCAAs this year and to spend three more years together."
The start of singles play did not yield any less of a challenge. In a near repeat of the previous day, several matches were closely pulled out by the opposing team after long rallies and close points, with only a single point going Virginia's way, this time to James at No. 3, who was able to begin strong by capturing the first set.
"The team got off to a slow start against Duke in the singles," James said. "A lot of people played close second sets. I stuck with my girl and was able to pull out the first set. I think that was the difference in my match."
After exhibiting serious talent and the desire to play their best tennis against the toughest teams, the Cavaliers are preparing for a home matchup against a string of ACC rivals, beginning with Maryland on tomorrow.
"We need to go out there fired up like we did this past weekend and play good tennis," James said.
The onslaught of highly-ranked teams is only beginning to reach its peak as Virginia finds itself in the thick of a competitive ACC schedule.
"We all want to do well in the ACCs--we still have our chance to prove ourselves, and that is what we are going to do this week," and as a lead-up to the NCAAs, Stern said.
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