The Virginia women's tennis team's goal going into the ACC Tournament was to make it to semifinals for the first time during coach Mark Guilbeau's four-year tenure. Despite a favorable drawing, however, the team fell short twice in five days against No. 8 Clemson, first 4-3 in a regular season finale, then 4-2 in an ACC quarterfinal. Now, the team waits for an NCAA Tournament bid.
The Cavaliers began the conference tournament Thursday by beating a much-improved No. 11 seed Boston College, 4-0. During the match, Virginia dominated the doubles point, winning two matches 8-3 and 8-2. In singles play, the Cavaliers only needed three wins to seal the victory, and No. 50 sophomore Lindsey Hardenbergh, senior Jennifer Stevens in the No. 5 singles slot and freshman Katie Gater at the No. 6 spot were more than happy to oblige. Each player won her match in straight sets to forward the Cavaliers to the next round.
"I thought we played pretty well, especially in the doubles," assistant coach Troy Porco said. "[The team] came out very efficient in the doubles and were able to get on top of them right away on all three courts ... From top to bottom it was as good a performance as we have had all year in the doubles, in terms of just overall consistency."
But Virginia could not carry its momentum from the previous day to doubles against Clemson Friday, dropping two of three matches to start the singles matchups already trailing by one point.
"We just simply got off to a slow start there again," Porco said. "We were able to overcome it at [Court] 3 and ultimately get the win but couldn't quite get back on top of them at [Court] 2."
And the Cavaliers battled, just as they had during their regular season finale loss to the Tigers. Both Stevens and Gater won their matches in straight sets, and sophomore Emily Fraser and freshmen Erin Vierra and Hana Tomljanoivic fought hard into their third sets. It was anyone's match to be had at that point during the day, according to Porco. At the end, however, Virginia lost, 4-2.
"Our kids did a great job of really battling there and putting ourselves in a position to win," Porco said. "But really at that moment you have to give Clemson credit. We were playing well, and we were doing some really good things strategically out there ... They were able to survive it."
The loss to Clemson represents the Cavaliers' fourth loss to a top-10 team - two to Clemson - on the season, all four of which were decided by three points or less.
"It's encouraging on the one hand to know that you can play with those guys and those teams, but it's also a little frustrating for the players and for everybody because they want to get it done - they want to get that signature win," Porco said. "And so once you start to have a few of those, you really want it that much more - you wanna get over that hump."
Virginia returns to the court May 14 for the NCAA regional tournament. Even though the squad emerged from the ACC Tournament somewhat disappointed, the team's expectations for the future remain unaffected.
"We're still going to play and go to a very good team and a very good region, so really what we have to be able to do is understand that, work hard in these next few weeks coming up to that," Porco said. "If we can get a little bit better with each player - that makes a big difference in a team match. Now it's a matter of getting out on the courts and working at it"
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