Coming off of a 7-0 sweep of rival Virginia Tech, No. 15 Virginia played its first home dual of conference play against No. 23 SMU, securing a competitive 4-1 win. Fielding the same lineup as they had on Wednesday, the Cavaliers (9-4, 2-0 ACC) took the doubles point over the Mustangs (7-2, 1-1 ACC), then built a strong enough cushion in singles to ultimately log their second ranked win of the season ahead of a handful of road duals in March.
Virginia struck first in doubles with a decisive 6-3 win on Line 3. No. 79 sophomore Isabelle Lacy and freshman Katie Rolls exchanged holds with their opponents for the first few games, but broke the deadlock, seizing control and working to a 5-3 lead. After the SMU pairing fought back to 40-30, having been down 40-0 on Lacy’s serve, a clean final point cemented a 6-3 win for Lacy and Rolls.
The Mustangs were able to even doubles play at one apiece on Line 1, as their top doubles pairing secured multiple key holds to down No. 3 graduate student Melodie Collard and junior Vivian Yang. Strong all-court play from freshman Amelie Van Impe and quick offense by junior Caroline McGinley allowed the pairing to break Virginia’s top pairing on several occasions as they fought towards a 6-4 win.
With that, the doubles point came down to Line 2, where No. 27 senior Annabelle Xu and sophomore Martina Genis Salas were in the midst of a close set against an aggressive opposing duo. Strong service and powerful baseline play from Xu, as well as defensive hustle from Genis Salas, led the pairing to break their opponents at 6-5, cementing a 7-5 win and the doubles point for the Cavaliers.
Like against the Hokies (3-5, 0-2 ACC), Virginia then fielded a singles lineup of No. 56 Yang and No. 33 Xu on the top two courts, No. 59 Lacy and No. 116 Rolls at the middle of the order and Collard and junior Blanca Pico Navarro to round it out. Leading 1-0 and needing three singles wins to take the dual, the Cavaliers got off to a strong start, winning the first set on four of the six courts.
It became a 2-0 dual on Court 2, as Xu trounced her Mustang opponent 6-2, 6-1. Securing early breaks in both sets, Xu played aggressively and forced short rallies, winning her third consecutive singles match. SMU got on the board not long afterwards, as Van Impe broke Yang late in the first set and early in the second, winning 6-4, 6-2 on Court 1.
On Court 4, Rolls fell behind early in the first set, having to fight back from down several games — breaking her opponent to tie it at 4-4. Keeping her groundstrokes low and fast, Rolls went on to win the first set 6-4, then went on another run in the second to win it 6-2 and set the Cavaliers up to win with one more singles victory.
At that time, all three of the remaining courts had gone to third sets. After cruising to a 6-2 win in the first set, Lacy dropped the second to McGinley, who built points with confidence and rarely missed a putaway shot. On Court 5, Collard had struggled to consistently win service games, losing the first set 7-5, but played some phenomenal defensive tennis in the second to win it 6-3.
The clinching point, however, came on Court 6. In her fourth appearance of the season, Pico Navarro played a dominant first set, but dropped a competitive second set to be forced to play a third. Hitting hard groundstrokes from the baseline and making her opponent play off the back foot, Pico Navarro got ahead in the third set, a hard-hit backhand cross-court icing her win, and finalizing a 4-1 victory for the Cavaliers.
At that point, Lacy was down 5-3 in the third, her opponent serving on deuce for a point that would have scored the Mustangs their second point. Collard was up 3-2 in her third set, riding the momentum she had built in the second.
The Cavaliers will not play again until March 12, when they will play the first of four consecutive road duals. Facing No. 21 Clemson in South Carolina — a side with two ranked singles players and two ranked pairings — Virginia is due for a tough matchup against one of the stronger ACC opponents. The Tigers (11-3, 1-1 ACC) just split their California swing with a loss to No. 12 California and a win over No. 18 Stanford, and have played a handful of other ranked opponents — looking to be a tough out on the road.
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