weekend at the Boar’s Head Resort in Charlottesville. They started off the weekend by topping No. 20 Georgia Tech Friday, then proceeded to close the weekend out with a win against Clemson Sunday. Both games against the Yellow Jackets (10-7, 4-5 ACC) and the Tigers (15-8, 3-7 ACC) were close affairs, but gaining both doubles points proved to be the difference in each game.
Match 1 – Virginia 4, Georgia Tech 3
In nicer weather, the doubles matches were played on the outdoor courts, where the Cavaliers took the point to make the score 1-0. Sophomore Melodie Collard and graduate student Julia Adams won 6-1 on court one, while senior Natasha Subhash and sophomore Elaine Chervinsky also won 6-1 on court two, clinching the point.
It began to rain during the singles’ first sets, so play was moved indoors and resumed. Collard won her singles match on court six 6-4, 6-3. This gave the Cavaliers a 2-0 lead. Shortly after, junior Sara Ziodato finished her match and won 6-2, 6-4 against Georgia Tech senior Rosie Garcia Gross on court five.
Subhash clinched the third victory, taking down No. 7 Carol Lee 6-3, 6-3 on the top court and picking up a top 10 singles win. This put the Cavaliers ahead 4-0.
Adams was edged 7-5 in a tiebreaker in her second set, giving Georgia Tech their first point and making the score 4-1. Junior Hibah Shaikh fought through a third-set super tiebreaker but was also edged 13-11, giving the Yellow Jackets their second point on court four.
Georgia Tech junior Mahak Jain won a three-set match on court three to make the score 4-3, but the Yellow Jackets ultimately ran out of available points, and the Cavaliers’ stellar early play sealed the victory. Ziodato was proud of the team’s performance.
“I felt like we got down the lineup, ownership over all our courts and we played for our team,” Ziodato said.
After this victory, the Cavaliers then looked to Sunday, where they faced their next opponent, Clemson.
Match 2 – Virginia 4, Clemson 3
Feeling strong, the Cavaliers were ready to continue their winning streak as they faced the Tigers Sunday. Ziodato and Shaikh opened the match by winning 6-2 on the third doubles court. Collard and Adams clinched the point on court one with a 7-5 win, finishing seconds before Chervinsky and Subhash’s 6-4 victory on court two.
Ziodato then gave Virginia a 2-0 lead with a 6-1, 6-3 win in her singles match on court five. Collard followed, winning 6-3, 6-4 on court six.
Subhash once again won the clinching point for Virginia on court one, with a 6-1, 6-4 victory against Clemson senior Eleni Louka on the top court.
Clemson scored their first point after Chervinsky retired with an injury in her third set against junior Jenna Thompson. The Tiger’s junior Christina Mayorova won a tiebreaker to score their second point, and junior Daniella Medvedeva won a super tiebreaker on court three to decide the third set, giving Clemson its third and final point. Collard is proud of how her and Adams have been playing in the doubles matches.
“We have a great chemistry. We have a great pattern going on, so it’s been going well so I hope it continues like that,” Collard said.
New ITA Rankings will be released Tuesday for team, singles and doubles players. With their strong victories recently, it is looking as though Cavaliers will continue to be in good ranking among the other teams. In doubles, Subhash and Chervinsky are currently ranked No. 9 while Adams and Collard are No. 11. This victory was the Cavalier’s ninth win in their last ten matches, and successful outings by the doubles pairs in particular may have a positive impact on next week’s updates. While rankings are not an end-all statistic in tennis, they provide a good gauge for how successful the season has been.
Virginia will close its homestand by playing its final regular-season home contest Thursday at 4 p.m. and honoring Adams before the match for Senior Day. They will host Virginia Tech in the Smithfield Commonwealth Clash.
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