SAN DIEGO – Four members of the Virginia women’s tennis team competed at the 2023 ITA National Fall Championships, being held November 1-5 at the Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego, California.
Junior Mélodie Collard and sophomore Annabelle Xu lost their first round doubles match but picked up three wins in the consolation bracket to advance to Sunday’s final match before being edged by a duo from North Carolina. Collard and Xu were a 5-8 seed in the draw.
Senior Hibah Shaikh topped No. 16 Irina Cantos Siemers of Ohio State in the first round of 16 of the singles draw, the highest-ranked win of her career, before falling on Thursday in the Round of 16. Shaikh and grad student Natasha Subhash advanced to the second round of doubles before bowing out against the tournament’s No. 2 seed.
The Championships are the grand finale to the fall collegiate tennis season and feature 64 of the nation’s top collegiate singles players (32 men and 32 women) and 64 of the nation’s top collegiate doubles teams (32 men’s teams and 32 women’s teams). The event is in its seventh and final year, having replaced the ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championships beginning in 2017. Next year, the NCAA Singles and Doubles Championship will take its place on the tournament calendar.
Shaikh earned her spot in the singles draw as a finalist at the ITA Atlantic Regional. Shaikh and Subhash played in the doubles draw after winning the ITA Atlantic Regional championship. Collard and Xu were doubles finalists at the ITA All-American.
This was the final tournament of the fall individual competitions. The Cavaliers will begin dual match season in mid-January with that schedule due to be released later this week.
Singles competition
32 #85 Hibah Shaikh (Virginia) def. #14 Irina Cantos Siemers (Ohio State) 6-2, 3-6, 6-0
16 Hannah Moeller (California) def. #85 Hibah Shaikh (Virginia) 6-4, 6-4
Doubles competition
32 Hibah Shaikh/Natasha Subhash (Virginia) def. #9 Katja Wiersholm/Jessica Alsola (California) 6-2, 4-6, 10-7
16 #1 Janice Tjen/Savannah Broadus (Pepperdine) def. Hibah Shaikh/Natasha Subhash (Virginia) 6-1, 7-6
32 Mao Mushika/Hannah Moeller (California) def. #46 Annabelle Xu/Melodie Collard (Virginia) 6-3, 7-6
c #46 Melodie Collard/Annabelle Xu (Virginia) def. Atnina Pitta/Alexandra Mikhailuk (Mississippi State) 6-3, 6-2
cqf #46 Melodie Collard/Annabelle Xu (Virginia) def. #8 Katherine Duong/Megan Heuser (Illinois) 5-7, 6-2,…