Entering Thursday following a strong 4-1 win over SMU, No. 21 Virginia traveled to No. 18 Clemson, looking to further boost its resume with another impressive ACC victory.
Deploying the same doubles lineup as they had in their last conference matchup, the Cavaliers (10-4, 3-0 ACC) narrowly escaped with the doubles point against the Tigers (13-4, 3-2) and rode that momentum into the singles matches, collecting their third ranked win of the season.
In almost identical fashion to their doubles performance against the Mustangs (9-4, 3-3) three weeks ago, No. 81 sophomore Isabelle Lacy and freshman Katie Rolls exploded out of the gate. The pair exchanged holds in the first two games against their opponents, with their strong play at the net allowing them to jump to a quick 4-1 lead and ultimately cruise to a 6-2 finish on Line 3.
On Line 2, No. 27 duo senior Annabelle Xu and Martina Genis Salas fell to sophomore Talia Neilson-Gatenby and senior Romana Cisovska. The bout began as a hard-fought contest, with the Cavaliers going down 2-3 before leveling it at 3-3. Xu and Genis Salas would proceed to go down 3-5 before their opponents, up 40-0 in the ninth game, served an ace to win 6-3 and tie up the doubles matches.
Virginia managed to clinch the doubles point on Line 1. No. 3 pairing fifth-year Melodie Collard and junior Vivian Yang split the first four games against their opponents 2-2. Excellent baseline play led them to take a 5-4 lead before quality serving from senior Jade Groen allowed Clemson to tie it up at 5-5. The Cavaliers showed great composure at the net to force a 6-6 tiebreak, where they fell behind 2-4 early before bringing it back to five apiece. A lovely forehand shot down the line from Yang gave them a 6-5 lead before a fantastic volley and smash from Collard won the match.
Looking for three singles wins to cement their victory over the Tigers, Virginia claimed two early before engaging in three back-and-forth matches on the remaining courts.
On Court 1, what began as a tight contest quickly turned into a rout. Despite the first set being tied 2-2, No. 70 Yang took her play up a gear, making quick work of her opponent by winning 6-2, 6-3 in what was a fantastic display of shotmaking ability.
In similar fashion, No. 96 Genis Salas secured an incredibly smooth 6-2, 6-3 victory. The match was rather lopsided from the beginning as her powerful groundstrokes and ability to dictate play proved too much for Neilson-Gatenby.
While these victories came quickly, the remaining four matches proved far more challenging.
No. 25 Xu, despite her best efforts, struggled greatly on Court 2 against No. 83 freshman Rinon Okuwaki. After a rather quick first set loss of 2-6, Xu was unable to muster a comeback in the second set, going down 0-5 before pulling one back to lose 1-6 as Okuwaki’s poise was far too much to control.
Similar to Xu, Rolls struggled from the start on Court 5. Her opponent, Aslanisvili, used sheer power and aggressive play to cause Rolls to drop the first set 2-6. Rolls quickly rebounded and took a quick 1-0 lead in the second set which eventually rolled into a 2-2 tie. A strong fifth-set sweep from the opponent led to Rolls going down 2-3 before clinching a deuce to tie it at 3-3. Up 40-0, Rolls hit a brilliant serve to go up 4-3. Aslanisvili swiftly returned the favor with a great serve of her own up 40-0 to make it 4-4. Despite Rolls winning the next game, her opponent hit a huge smash to make it 5-5 before ultimately pulling through with a 7-5 win.
With the singles matches split at an even two apiece, it all came down to the results on Courts 3 and 6.
On Court 3, No. 82 Lacy quickly conceded the first set 2-6 despite playing well around the baseline and showing brilliant touch around the net. Still, she showed great resilience by going up 2-0 early in the second set as the result of a cheeky volley. She and Cisovska exchanged beautiful rallies resulting in a 2-2 deadlock before Lacy, demonstrating serious court control, pulled away to win 6-3 and force a third set. Despite being down 2-5, Lacy’s match would not get to finish because of the result on Court 6.
In a back-and-forth affair on Court 6, Collard managed to secure the win over junior Ria Bhakta. In the first set, after being all square at 2-2, a double fault from Bhakta helped Collard take a 3-2 lead. However, despite stellar defense from Collard, who showcased stern resolve in battling back from early losing positions, she would drop the set 3-6.
The second set began just like the first — level after four games. A commanding fifth set from Collard gave her a 3-2 lead, which she would not squander, as she eventually won 6-3 after fending off some lovely shots from Bhakta. This led to a decisive third set, one in which Collard utterly dominated, winning 6-1 and clinching a victory for the Cavaliers.
Virginia now travels to Atlanta, Ga., for a second consecutive round of ACC play as they take on Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets (7-6, 2-2) are coming off a routine 4-0 victory over Virginia Tech (3-7, 0-2). Led by previous No. 47 senior Alejandra Cruz, the bout should prove to be another challenging matchup.
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