In its last road trip of a busy March, No. 15 Virginia earned a pair of ACC victories in Florida, earning clean wins over Florida State and No. 30 Miami. The Cavaliers (13-4, 6-0 ACC) rotated their lineup slightly, defeating the Seminoles (4-12, 0-7 ACC) 4-0 Friday, then beating the Hurricanes (10-3, 6-1 ACC) 4-1 Sunday.
The pair of wins saw some changes to the Virginia lineup, with freshman Katie Rolls playing two matches on Court 3 — her first time playing in the top half of the order — winning both. The match against Miami also saw Coach Sara O’Leary playing senior Annabelle Xu on Court 1 for the first time this season.
March was a difficult month on the Cavaliers’ schedule, opening conference play with three straight weekends of road duals. Having played a difficult non-conference schedule that included four teams currently in the top 10, Virginia started 6-0 in ACC play — returning to Charlottesville with an impressive record and resume ahead of their final six regular season duals.
Florida State, the easier of the two duals both on paper and in practice, did put up a fight in doubles against the Cavaliers — forcing a decider on Line 2. No. 4 graduate student Melodie Collard and junior Vivian Yang got on the board early, quickly earning a 6-1 win on Line 1. Senior Meggie Navarro and sophomore Isabelle Lacy — playing their first doubles match together since January — then dropped their match 6-2 on Line 3.
With the doubles matches split, the point then came down to Line 2, where Virginia’s longest-tenured doubles pairing of No. 36 Xu and sophomore Martina Genis Salas were in a closer battle against a Seminoles pairing, ultimately winning 6-4 to take the doubles point.
As singles got underway, the Cavaliers took three of six first sets, building an early advantage that would put them in position to sweep the dual.
A 2-0 lead came quickly, as Rolls blitzed her Florida State opponent on Court 3 for a fast 6-3, 6-0 win. Holding a 4-0 record on Court 4 and a 9-4 record in singles this spring, Rolls played on Court 3 for the first time in her college career, looking poised as she built points off the baseline and forced her opponent into uncomfortable positions.
“She just loves to be in the fight and doesn't shy away from it,” O’Leary said in a late February interview. “What I've been really impressed with Katie is just her coachability this semester. We watch film a lot, we've had a lot of great talks, and she's been very open to making small adjustments here and there and understanding how to build a game that's really sustainable every single match. And so it's just been really fun to watch her grow and learn and just take in all this information, and she's so fun to coach.”
No. 108 Lacy followed up Rolls’ victory with a quick win of her own on Court 4. Extending her spring record to 9-1 across all courts, Lacy built a smooth 6-3, 6-1 win to get the Cavaliers to three points.
As two courts entered third sets and one other got close to wrapping up its second, junior Blanca Pico Navarro finalized a win on Court 6 with a deuce win after a long rally. With a 7-5, 6-2 victory, Pico Navarro extended her season record to 4-0, proving to be a steady Court 6 presence on the deep Virginia roster. At the time of completion, No. 81 Yang and Genis Salas were at the beginning of third sets, while No. 32 Xu was up 5-4 in her second set, having lost the first.
Against Miami, the Cavaliers again got an early advantage in doubles, as Collard and Yang won 6-3 on Line 1, before Lacy and Rolls won on Line 3 by the same score.
Virginia rotated its singles lineup slightly, swapping Yang and Xu for the first time this season, and playing Collard on Court 6. Rolls, again, made it a 2-0 dual on Court 3, capping off a stellar weekend with a 7-5, 6-3 win.
Yang, who had built a 6-5 record on Court 1 after some inconsistent performances in non-conference play, then punctuated a 6-3, 6-4 win on Court 2 over No. 101 graduate student Sofia Rocchetti. Xu, playing on Court 1 for the first time since March 28, 2025, then lost her match to No. 67 senior Raquel Gonzalez, dropping both sets 6-3.
Clinching the dual on Court 4, Lacy extended the Virginia ACC record to 6-0 with a 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 win over sophomore Jaquelyn Ogunwale. On both unfinished courts, the Cavaliers had won the second set after losing the first, with Genis Salas trailing 1-0 in the third at completion, and Collard down 4-3.
Overall, with some slight variation in lineups, Virginia saw promising signs this weekend with a pair of extremely impressive performances from the surging freshman Rolls, two great Lacy wins on Court 4 and some comfortable doubles wins, especially on Line 1. Opening conference play with a difficult stretch of duals, the Cavaliers will now play four of their six remaining regular season duals at Boar’s Head Sports Club — though some of those will be against tough opponents.
After six straight road duals, the Cavaliers will now return to Charlottesville for their first home dual since Feb. 22, facing No. 23 Duke Friday and No. 3 North Carolina Sunday. The Blue Devils (11-4, 5-0 ACC) are a strong team with three ranked singles players — most notably No. 19 sophomore Irina Balus — and three ranked pairings. The Tar Heels (17-1, 5-0) will be a daunting task for a Virginia squad, having crushed the Cavaliers in January and have since only lost to current No. 3 Ohio State. Led by NCAA singles champion and No. 3-ranked player in senior Reese Brantmeier, North Carolina has a lineup that includes four other ranked singles players and three ranked pairings.
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