The No. 25 Virginia women's tennis team squares off against William & Mary this afternoon at 4 p.m. at the Boar's Head Sports Club.
The Cavaliers enter today's match after sweeping No. 58 Winthrop Monday 7-0, quickly capturing the doubles point before blistering through the singles matches, winning five of six contests in straight sets.
No. 53 Lindsey Hardenbergh and Erin Vierra battled through the Cavaliers' toughest match of the afternoon at the No. 2 doubles spot, finding themselves down four games to three, then winning the next three games to go up 6-4 before taking the match and the doubles point 8-6 for Virginia.
The Cavaliers opened up singles play with two superior performances from Hardenbergh at the No. 1 spot and Emily Fraser at No. 2, who both dominated their opponents, dropping only one game collectively.
Virginia senior Jennifer Stevens won her first set 6-0 but found herself tied at 3-3 in the second set. She then railed off three straight games, however, to claim the win and seal the overall victory for the Cavaliers.
Freshman Erin Vierra at the No. 3 spot took her first set, as well, but dropped the second after failing to make a proper out call on set point, which forced the chair umpire to give the game and the set to Winthrop. After a bathroom break, Vierra faced stiff competition from Winthrop's Sandra Herrera during the 18-point tiebreaker, warding off match point to top the sophomore 12-10.
"[Vierra] met a good opponent today and that probably will help [her] more than anyone on the team come Wednesday, having faced a good opponent like that and getting through it," Virginia coach Mark Guilbeau said after the match. "She saved a match point, she refused to miss there."
Against William & Mary this afternoon, the Cavaliers will work to improve consistency and shot selection, cutting down on errors which have cost players matches this season.
"We've been working specifically on really trying to be a bit more disciplined with our shot selections, our directions in terms of where we are hitting the ball," Guilbeau said. "We also [focused on] not letting our offensive moments be decided 50-50 because we're trying to hit a perfect shot - hit a good shot to a big target and stay in control of the point that you've worked hard for."
William & Mary dropped two matches this past weekend on an Ivy League road trip against No. 36 Yale and No. 66 Brown. But the Tribe topped No. 27 Florida International the weekend before, sweeping the doubles point and five of six singles matches to win 6-1.
"You practice for these moments, so it's actually exciting now to be able to go and play," Guilbeau said. "I think we'll have a very good week if we play up to our level"
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