The Virginia women's tennis team faces will face Harvard Saturday at the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar's Head Sports Club in its sixth match of the season.
The Cavaliers are coming off their recent 4-3 win against Virginia Tech -- the team's first ACC victory, improving their overall record to 2-3 and silencing questions of doubt after its slow beginning and No. 48 ITA ranking this season.
The key to Virginia's win was a secure lead; the Cavaliers scored early, winning all three doubles matches.
The doubles team of junior Maggie Yahner and senior Lindsey Pereira upset Virginia Tech's team of junior Inga Beerman and senior J.J. Larson 8-2.Sophomore Jennifer Stevens and Hampton Williams then posted a 8-4 win against Jessica Long and Holly Johnson, giving Virginia the opening doubles point. The Cavaliers finished the doubles sweep with Amanda Rales and Lara Alexander's 8-4 win against Jessica Brouwer and Yasmin Hamza.
The Cavaliers then continued to control singles, taking advantage of third-set superbreakers.
In three straight set wins, Yahner defeated Brouwer 6-4, 6-0; Rales upset her opponent Beerman 7-5, 6-3; and Alexander defeated Walker 6-2, 6-3.
Virginia lost the three other singles matches, but two went to influential third-set superbreakers where the Cavaliers were able to come out the victor.
Harvard (0-3) enters the match as the underdog. Besides a disappointing season record, the team returns to the courts after this past weekend's loss to Boston University, where a crucial doubles point came back to haunt the Crimson, ultimately determining the fate of the game.
Sunday, the Cavaliers will face Brown University. The Bears (1-2) arrive in Charlottesville after this past weekend's split doubleheader in which the team was defeated by Boston College 4-3 before upsetting St. John's 6-1. Although Brown dominated doubles in its second match of the weekend against St. John, the squad was scoreless in doubles in its Boston College match.
This weekend, the team will particularly need doubles partners Rales and Alexander, Yahner and Pereira, and Stevens and Williams to bring the same opening level of intensity that allowed the team to take an early lead in previous matches. This season Virginia holds an overall team 31-23 doubles record. Rales and Alexander are fairly new doubles partners and are unranked, but Yahner and Pererira are 9-5 on the season, and Stevens and Williams hold a 1-1 record.
After this weekend's pair of matches, Virginia will next face Old Dominion. The Lady Monarchs (5-2) recently fell to Virginia Tech.
--compiled by Jenna Casey
Read More
'The Måns Dahlberg show' is kicking into gear, just in time for Virginia’s title chase
By Thomas Baxter | YesterdayHe's one man during the first few months of the season, quite another in the final two.
TILOCK: The real Virginia baseball just stood up
By Xander Tilock | 2 days agoThe Cavaliers' chronic issues are dwindling, and underperforming stars are ascending.
Dietrich’s comeback clincher sends No. 7 seed men’s tennis to NCAA quarterfinals
By Margaret Piatos | 3 days agoFor the 18th time in 20 years, Virginia is headed to the quarterfinals.
