For top individual players and doubles pairings alike, a major goal in fall collegiate tennis is to earn qualification to the NCAA Singles and Doubles Tournament in late November. Qualification is earned — or won — at a trio of Intercollegiate Tennis Association tournaments throughout the fall.
Five members of the women’s tennis team visited Cary, N.C., over the past week to make their first attempts of the season at one of 64 tournament bids in singles and 32 in doubles. Ultimately none of Virginia’s players or pairings earned qualification, but signs of promise and opportunities for growth were apparent throughout the event.
Sophomores Isabelle Lacy and Martina Genis Salas were the first to lace up for the Cavaliers in Cary, competing in pre-qualifying for singles. Both won their first match in straight sets but ultimately did not reach the qualifying stage, with Genis Salas losing a close second match and Lacy losing in three sets in the pre-qualifying finals.
In the qualifying round for singles, graduate student Melodie Collard lost her first match while junior Vivian Yang won before losing in the qualifying finals. Senior Annabelle Xu, the only Virginia player in the main draw for singles, also lost her opening match, as well as her match in the consolation bracket.
Doubles, however, is where Cavaliers women’s tennis stood out. Two pairings earned bids to the main draw in Cary — Collard and Yang as well as Xu and Genis Salas. Each duo won its first match — both against opponents from UCLA — showcasing impressive doubles play.
Collard, a reigning NCAA doubles champion, is in a new pairing with Yang, a transfer from Pepperdine. With Yang hitting wide left serves and Collard rushing the net with unparalleled savvy, the new pairing was a strong demonstration of the type of play Coach Sara O’Leary has long been a proponent of.
The pairing lost their second match against a team from Oklahoma after an extremely tight first set. However, having entered the season as the No. 9 ranked doubles pairing in the NCAA, the Collard-Yang pairing looks dangerous.
Another dangerous combination, Xu and Genis Salas were main doubles partners last season as well. The duo comfortably won their first match, but fizzled out in their Round of 16 match against a pair from Wisconsin. Genis Salas had an inside-out forehand on speed dial, opening up the court incredibly with powerful shots.
The team returned back to Charlottesville likely a little disappointed by the result, but it showed enough positives to be optimistic about the fall and, to some degree, the spring as well. While fall for many players is about that NCAA Tournament, it is also about getting time on the court to learn and build up fitness.
“Really building their fitness in the fall is important, so that they're able to take on the toughness of the spring,” Coach Sara O’Leary said in a prior interview with The Cavalier Daily. “Because we have a tough schedule next spring. We're traveling a lot, we're playing a lot of really good teams, so fitness is going to be key. And just getting that match experience.”
In that sense, the team got some good reps in. After some significant losses to graduation over the offseason, the Cavaliers brought out two strong doubles pairings in Cary, as well as having four of five players earn singles wins against opponents from among the nation’s best.
The team returns to action Oct. 10-12, hosting the Wahoowa Invitational at the Boar’s Head Resort. The next ITA event — the Atlantic Regional — will run in Blacksburg from Oct. 16-21, where players will have further opportunities to push for NCAA Tournament qualification.
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