Virginia women’s tennis returned home over the weekend, defeating ACC rivals Syracuse and Boston College to remain undefeated in conference play. The matches were the Cavaliers’ (15-2, 7-0 ACC) first at home since January, and it seemed that playing at home made them even more dominant as they soundly beat both the Orange (9-7, 3-6 ACC) and the Eagles (6-10, 1-8 ACC).
Friday — Virginia 5, Syracuse 2
Virginia’s weekend began Friday when it handily defeated Syracuse. The Orange opened the match up strong, with doubles partners junior Miyuka Kimoto and senior Viktoriya Kanapatskaya defeating the Cavaliers' No. 14 junior duo of Melodie Collard and Elaine Chervinsky 6-2 on court one.
However, the Cavaliers quickly bounced back on court two, where the No. 27 duo of senior Hibah Shaikh and graduate student Natasha Subhash defeated the Orange’s graduate student Polina Kozyreva and sophomore Anastasia Sysoeva 6-3. They clinched the doubles point similarly on court three, where senior Sara Ziodato and sophomore Meggie Navarro defeated the Syracuse squad of junior Shiori Ito and sophomore Constance Levivier 6-3.
The Cavaliers carried their momentum to singles play, where Collard defeated Levivier in straight sets, 6-1, 6-0. No. 60 Ziodato followed suit, easily defeating No. 124 Sysoeva 6-0, 6-1, before No. 76 Chervinsky defeated Ito in another straight-set victory for Virginia, 6-0, 6-2, clinching the match for the Cavaliers. With team victory already secured, sophomore Annabelle Xu kept the Cavaliers’ straight-set victories going on court two, defeating sophomore Emilie Elde 6-2, 6-2.
Although they had already lost the match, the Orange found life in the last two matches. On court 4, Kosyreva defeated Subhash in a tie-breaker third set, winning 6-1, 2-6 and 10-8. No. 25 Shaikh was also defeated in three sets, her first singles loss since Feb. 3. She was edged out by No. 48 Kimoto, who bounced back from a 1-6 loss in the first set to take the second in a 7-6, 7-4 tiebreaker. Kimoto finished strong in the third set to defeat Shaikh 10-8. These two losses did not impact the match outcome, as the Cavaliers had already clinched victory.
Sunday — Virginia 6, Boston College 1
In an even more dominant performance Sunday, Virginia defeated Boston College 6-1.
Arguably the most competitive part of the match, they won the doubles point 2-1. Collard and Chervinsky defeated the Eagles’ duo of senior Marice Aguiar and junior Stephanie Sanchez 6-3 to open play. The Eagles battled back when freshman Tola Glowacka and sophomore Natalie Eordekian bested Ziodato and Navarro 7-5; however, Subhash and Shaikh clinched the point for the Cavaliers when they beat sophomore Seren Agar and graduate student Nada Dimovska 7-5 on court two.
After the doubles point, Virginia quickly jumped out to a 4-0 lead when Subhash defeated junior Muskan Mahajan in 6-0, 6-0 straight sets. Collard also contributed, with a 6-2, 6-1 win on court five against Sanchez. Chervinsky clinched the match in dominating fashion against Glowacka 6-2, 6-3.
The last three courts finished play, with Xu defeating No. 106 Aguiar 7-5, 6-2, yet another straight-set victory. Ziodato won in three against Eordekian. She dropped the first set 4-6 but bounced back in the last two to earn victory with two 6-1 sets. Agar defeated Virginia freshman Zara Larke on court six 6-4, 7-6 and 7-3 to close out the match, giving Boston College their first and only point of the day.
Both of the weekend’s victories marked a powerful return home for Virginia. The Cavaliers will remain at home this week, where they will take on No. 10 NC State Thursday. The Wolfpack have only dropped two games in conference play this season and will hope to rebound from their Sunday loss against No. 23 Duke. The Wolfpack (15-5, 5-2 ACC) will be a big test for Virginia as both schools continue to face the gauntlet of ACC play.
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