Delivering a statement win on home courts, No. 13 Virginia earned a hard-fought 4-2 win over No. 24 Duke Friday afternoon. In a dual that lasted well into its third hour, the Cavaliers (14-4, 7-0 ACC) weathered a late Blue Devils (11-5, 5-1 ACC) comeback, with graduate student Melodie Collard securing the win with a narrow third-set victory on Court 6.
Virginia put points on the board early, securing the doubles point with a pair of 6-3 wins on Line 1 and 2. First to finish, No. 36 senior Annabelle Xu and sophomore Martina Genis Salas defeated their Duke opponents on Line 2 with aggressive tennis — both attacking the net and ending points with clean winners. Not long afterwards, No. 4 Collard and junior Vivian Yang made it a 1-0 dual on Line 1, a Collard putaway volley ending doubles play after a series of hard-hit Yang forehands from the baseline. Line 3 was left unfinished, with sophomore Isabelle Lacy and freshman Katie Rolls tied at 5-5 with their Blue Devil opponents, having been unable to convert on match point up 5-4.
In singles play, the Cavaliers built off lineup changes they had trialed in last weekend’s duals against Florida State and Miami — continuing to play No. 32 Xu on Court 1 and No. 81 Yang on 2, but swapping No. 108 Lacy to Court 3 to play Rolls on 4.
Rolls, who was named ACC Freshman of the Week after a standout pair of performances last weekend, made it a 2-0 dual on Court 4. After running away with the first set, she faced steeped competition in the second from hard-hitting junior Shavit Kimchi, winning a late break at 5-5 then holding for a 6-1, 7-5 win. Already Virginia’s leading points-scorer on the season, Rolls extended her spring record to 12-4 with the win, serving well and building points with precision and pace.
Virginia extended its lead on Court 1, where Xu delivered an impressive win over No. 19 sophomore Irina Balus. Xu played with confidence and aggression, consistently upping the pace of the rally with rocketed forehands to place Balus on her back foot. A razor-thin first set saw Xu take home a 7-5 tiebreak win, before breaking Balus at 4-3 in the second to set up a 6-4 win.
Despite the Cavaliers having won five of six available first sets, Duke then began to turn the tide, with all four remaining singles courts going to third sets.
The Blue Devils got their first point on Court 2, where No. 89 freshman Aspen Schuman defeated Yang 0-6, 6-3, 6-4. Yang had comfortably taken the first set, but Schuman played consistent tennis from the baseline, keeping rallies long and forcing Yang to make mistakes.
Not long afterwards, Duke scored its second point on Court 3, posturing for a comeback win with two remaining courts in tight third sets. Sophomore Liv Hovde had been the lone Blue Devil to take a first set, but Lacy fired back with a quick second set win. Hovde, however, pulled away early in the third against Lacy to finalize a 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 win.
At the time of completion, Courts 5 and 6 were both in tightly-contested third sets as the dual entered its third hour. Genis Salas had won her first set 6-4 — extending points with her backhand slice — but lost the second 6-3, while Collard had taken the first 6-3 but dropped the second 6-4.
After a contentious out call on a volley, Collard and her opponent — No. 112 Elena Yu — were tied at 4-4. Collard held her serve for a 5-4 lead, and Yu responded with a hold of her own to tie it again. Collard then held once more, and worked her way to match point up 6-5. After exchanging slices with Yu to open the rally, Collard then attacked the net, where she was able to clinch the 4-2 dual win a couple of shots later.
At the time of completion, Genis Salas led 4-3 in her third set, having just broken her opponent’s serve to take the lead.
With the win, Virginia extended its undefeated streak in ACC play — evading a Blue Devils comeback attempt that seemed to have enough momentum to come to fruition. The early 3-0 lead, built by a confident doubles victory, Rolls’ stellar play and an impressive top-20 win for Xu ultimately gave the Cavaliers enough of a cushion as every other singles court went to three sets.
Next, Virginia will play its second home dual of the weekend in a 1 p.m. rematch against No. 5 North Carolina Sunday. The Tar Heels (18-1, 6-0 ACC) crushed the Cavaliers when the two met in January, and have since only lost to No. 4 Ohio State. The Cavaliers will be favored to lose to the higher-ranked North Carolina, a squad that includes two top-10 singles players and two top-10 doubles pairings too.
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