Coming off a strong ACC win over Clemson, No. 13 Virginia faced two ACC teams ranked in the top three this weekend. First, the Cavaliers (9-4, 3-2 ACC) traveled to Chapel Hill, N.C. Friday to face off against No. 1 North Carolina — the undefeated top seed in the country with five singles players ranked in the top 40 nationwide. They followed up with a win Sunday against No. 3 NC State.
Virginia first took on the Tar Heels (16-0, 4-0 ACC) Friday. The Cavaliers started off strong after juniors Vivian Glozman and Rosie Johanson won the first doubles match 6-3. However, senior Chloe Gullickson and sophomore Amber O’Dell, as well as sophomore Sofia Munera and freshman Natasha Subhash, both lost to their opponents, allowing North Carolina to claim the doubles point. This gave the Tar Heels an early 1-0 lead and marked only the second time this season that Virginia lost the doubles point.
The Tar Heels continued their dominance through the singles matches. North Carolina’s No. 6 senior Sara Daavettila opened up the matches with a victory over No. 35 Johanson. While No. 15 Subhash defeated North Carolina’s No. 5 Alexa Graham 6-1, 6-2, the rest of Virginia could not keep up with North Carolina. O’Dell and Glozman were both defeated in straight sets, while Gullickson and Munera both lost three-set matches. The Tar Heels won 6-1, continuing their dominant run.
Virginia was back in action Sunday against NC State (16-3, 3-1 ACC) at the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center in Raleigh, N.C. This time, things went differently for the Cavaliers.
For the 11th time in 13 matches, Virginia won the doubles point with victories by Glozman and Johanson as well as Munera and Subhash.
Johanson opened up the singles matches with a 6-4, 6-2 loss to No. 32 Anna Rogers. However, No. 95 Munera and Gullickson restored the Cavaliers lead with wins that put Virginia up 3-1.
The Wolfpack responded soon after, as both O’Dell and Glozman were beaten in straight sets to tie the match 3-3. In the sixth and decisive singles match, Subhash continued her dominance, defeating NC State’s No. 16 Alana Smith 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 to win the match 4-3 for the Cavaliers.
This was Virginia’s first win over a top-five team since the 2016 season and only its fifth win ever against a top-five team.
The Cavaliers will be back in action in Charlottesville against Syracuse Friday. Matches are set to start at 2 p.m. at the Snyder Tennis Center.
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