No. 15 Virginia, fresh off a pair of clean home wins last weekend, traveled to Ann Arbor, Mich., for the first of two midwestern road duals before the ITA Team Indoor Championships. Facing a competitive No. 13 Michigan on Friday evening, the Cavaliers (6-1, 0-0 ACC) won the dual 4-2, evening their historical head-to-head against the Wolverines (1-2, 0-0 Big Ten) at seven apiece.
In doubles, three courts quickly became one, as each of the two teams quickly claimed one of the two necessary wins to claim the point. Senior Annabelle Xu and sophomore Martina Genis Salas won a break in their first game and never looked back, a Xu lunging volley sealing a 6-2 in on Court 2. Senior Meggie Navarro and sophomore Isabelle Lacy lost by the same score on Court 3, starting 1-0 but getting broken on their next service game and never finding their way back into the set.
In a matchup already projected to have a tight final score, that placed the doubles point on Court 1, as the No. 9-ranked pairing of fifth-year Melodie Collard and junior Vivian Yang took on the No. 43-ranked pairing in senior Lily Jones sophomore Jessica Bernales. After taking a 4-3 lead, Yang and Collard lost three straight break points to keep the match at a deadlock. Two holds later, and it was 5-5, before each pairing broke the other to send it to a tiebreak. After exchanging points to start, Virginia’s top pairing won one of the best points of the day — a long rally with stellar defense and offense from both sides — before carrying that momentum to a 7-2 tiebreak and the doubles point for the Cavaliers.
Michigan answered Virginia’s doubles point by evening the score with a quick singles win on Court 3. Genis Salas never quite found her footing against junior Reese Miller, who managed to extend rallies and force mistakes against the Cavaliers’ standout sophomore, winning 6-2, 6-1.
The stalemate was broken soon afterwards, as Lacy extended her undefeated streak with a 6-1, 6-4 win on Court 4. Now 6-0 in singles this spring, Lacy controlled the pace of play and brought home a decisive win against a tough middle-court opponent in No. 85-ranked Bernales.
The Wolverines again evened the score, as Jones beat Xu 6-2, 6-4 on Court 2. Jones — who hits an unconventional and powerful two-handed forehand — forced the speedy Xu into long rallies and games, winning a handful of early breaks and holding her serve consistently. Though losing a second singles point, Virginia led on all three remaining courts, needing two wins to secure the dual.
The first of those came on Court 5. Collard, now 3-1 in singles on the season, was stellar in her service games and energetic throughout — hustling to balls and forcing her opponent to work for nearly every point. With Courts 1 and 6 both in tight second sets, Collard’s 6-3, 6-4 win set up either Yang or freshman Katie Rolls to seal the win.
With a tiebreak second-set victory, Rolls was the one to finish the job. Quickly getting to every ball and keeping her groundstrokes low and accurate, Rolls extended her record to 4-1 with a 6-4, 7-6 win. At the time of finishing, Yang was in the midst of a second-set battle with No. 3-ranked junior Piper Charney, trailing 6-5 in the second set after winning the first 6-4.
After a difficult loss to North Carolina just two weeks ago, the Cavaliers have since gone 3-0, winning two duals against ranked Big Ten opponents in Southern California and now Michigan. Lower court play has been a strong point for Virginia, with an undefeated team record on Court 4 and a combined 9-2 record on Courts 5 and 6. With a top half of the order that has also proven its mettle and an incredibly strong set of three doubles pairings, Coach Sara O’Leary’s squad will head into the ITA Team Indoor Championships with momentum and a strong idea of its best lineup.
Before heading to Evanston, Ill., for the Indoor Championships Feb. 6-10, the Cavaliers will travel to Columbus, Ohio, for a Sunday matchup against No. 10 Ohio State. The Buckeyes (1-0, 0-0 Big Ten) are a strong team led by a pair of top-ranked players in juniors Luciana Perry and Teah Chavez — ranked No. 10 and 14 in singles respectively and No. 29 as a doubles pairing.
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