After a marathon of a dual, it all came down to Court 2. No 32 senior Annabelle Xu had bounced back from a lost first set to take the second and put herself in position to win the match, and with it the dual.
She was up 5-4, serving for the dual. An errant forehand from No. 26 junior Tatum Evans made it 15-0, then Xu rifled a serve to get up 30-0. Evans then got her last point of the hours-long match, before Xu hit a cannon of a backhand to set up match point.
Seconds later, Evans’ shot went long, and an elated No. 13 Virginia rushed to Xu to celebrate the win. Upsetting No. 5 North Carolina at home and extending their undefeated run in conference play, the Cavaliers (15-4, 8-0 ACC) pulled together four singles wins, earning a 4-3 win over the powerhouse Tar Heels (18-2, 6-1 ACC).
The dual as a whole — a clash between two ACC giants — was dominated by rough conditions. Wind gusts of around 23 miles per hour affected every court, stopping balls in their tracks and sending others way long.
It was already going to be a difficult match for Virginia with those conditions against an extremely talented North Carolina squad, made all the more difficult by an early 1-0 deficit after dropping the doubles point.
The Tar Heels set themselves up well for singles with a decisive doubles win — winning all three courts by a comfortable margin. No. 6-ranked graduate student Oby Kajuru and sophomore Susanna Maltby opened the dual with a quick 6-2 win on Line 1, breaking No. 4 graduate student Melodie Collard and junior Vivian Yang early before running away with the set. On Line 3, Evans and junior Maddy Zampardo also found an early break against sophomore Isabelle Lacy and Katie Rolls, winning 6-4. Line 2 opted to play out its match, before No. 5 senior Reese Brantmeier and sophomore Alanis Hamilton finalized a 6-3 win over No. 36 Xu and sophomore Martina Genis Salas.
Entering singles play down 1-0, the Cavaliers made some lineup changes from its Friday win over No. 24 Duke, reverting No. 81 Yang to Court 1 for the first time after three games on Court 2, and playing Xu back on Court 2. No. 108 Lacy and Rolls also swapped positions, the former playing on 4 and the latter on 3.
That change immediately proved valuable, as Rolls put Virginia on the board quickly — notching a massive straight set win over No. 7 Oby Kajuru. Rolls — whose low shots and adaptability allowed her to avoid some of the wind’s disruption — consistently dictated rallies’ tempo, forcing Kajuru to move across the court en route to a rapid 6-3, 6-3 win.
North Carolina, a talented team top to bottom, then responded on Court 5. Controlling most of the match, Zampardo defeated No. 106 Genis Salas 6-3, 6-4 to give the Tar Heels a 2-1 lead, setting the visitors up for a victory — North Carolina had three of the four remaining courts’ first sets, needing two match victories to clinch the dual.
Again, the Cavaliers evened the score, as Collard finalized a 6-4, 6-3 victory on Court 6 over junior Theadora Rabman. Executing consistently on her service games and extending rallies well into the double digits, Collard was able to disrupt Rabman’s flow and break her serve when it mattered to even the dual.
All three remaining courts went to third sets — with all having seen the Tar Heel visitor take the first before Virginia responded in the second.
On Court 1, Yang found herself in a battle with No. 3 Brantmeier. After being unable to contain Brantmeier’s power in the first set, Yang responded well in the second — giving her opponent much less to work with in drawn out rallies, and capitalizing well on Brantmeier’s frustration. An early break in the third, however, gave Brantmeier enough of a cushion to pull away, logging a 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 win and making it a 3-2 dual.
That left Courts 2 and 4, Xu and Lacy, still in play — the Cavaliers needing to win both. After struggling a lot with the wind, Lacy had lost the first set in a 10-8 tiebreak to No. 113 freshman Anna Frey, but had bounced back in the second, forcing a tiebreak and winning it 7-5. Xu had lost the first 6-3, before taking the second by the same margin.
Despite Xu having started her third set first, Lacy was the Cavalier who ultimately tied it at 3-3. As Frey’s energy and spirit dwindled — visibly exhausted after well over three hours of tennis — Lacy played solid baseline tennis, forcing the freshman to make mistakes and playing clinically on service games. After a brief stalemate, Lacy pulled away in the third, winning it 6-2.
Xu’s opponent, Evans, was also growing tired and frustrated, while Xu maintained a healthy competitive intensity well into the third set. A break at 3-3 had given her the upper hand, though Evans had managed to hold her serve afterwards, making it a 5-4 third set shortly after Lacy’s win.
But Xu’s clinical execution in the final game quickly confirmed the Virginia victory, her teammates rushing to her to celebrate in unison after the final shot. The win, Virginia’s eighth in conference play, placed the Cavaliers at the top of the ACC standings as the only undefeated team, ahead of the final four duals of the regular season.
“I'm just really proud of the toughness and resilience of this team,” Coach Sara O’Leary said. “They just stay right there. They don't get ahead, they don't get behind, they don't get down, and that's what we had to do today, especially after losing that doubles point, where we didn't play that well … our team stayed so united and so together out there, and that's what won us this match.”
Next weekend, the Cavaliers will make their final road trip of the regular season, facing No. 19 California Friday and No. 40 Stanford Sunday. The Golden Bears (9-4, 6-2 ACC) have four ranked singles players — including Xu’s younger sister, Naomi — and two ranked doubles pairings. The Cardinal (9-7, 5-3 ACC) has three ranked singles players — all in the top 35 — and only one ranked pairing.
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