CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 8 Virginia women’s tennis team (4-0) picked up a 4-1 victory against South Carolina (1-3) on Saturday (Jan. 27) in the championship match of ITA Kickoff Weekend at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.
With the victory, Virginia earns an invitation to compete at the 2023 ITA National Indoor Team Championships, being held Feb. 10-13 in Seattle, Wash.
The match began with a tight doubles point in which all three courts went to tiebreakers. Both Julia Adams and Mélodie Collard on court one and Natasha Subhash and Annabelle Xu on court two faced set points trailing 5-3, and both won deuce points to keep their matches alive. Adams and Collard won their tiebreaker 7-2 before Subhash and Xu followed with a 7-4 win in their breaker to clinch the doubles point.
In singles, Elaine Chervinsky gave UVA a 2-0 lead with a 6-1, 6-3 win on court three. No. 20 Ayana Akli got the Gamecocks on the board with a straight-set win on the top court to make it 2-1. After winning a tight first set on court four, 6-4, Sara Ziodato went 6-0 in her second set to put the Cavaliers up 3-1. Hibah Shaikh battled through a tiebreaker, 9-7, to decide her first set, and then closed out the victory with a 6-2 win in the second against Alice Otis on court six.
Subhash was leading 5-1 in the third set on court two when play was suspended.
This is the second straight year the Cavaliers have qualified for the ITA National Team Indoor Championship and third time in the last four years. They will be among the 16 teams competing for the first national title of the dual match season next month.
“I first want to congratulate South Carolina on a well played match,” said head coach Sara O’Leary. “They are a very strong and feisty team and we knew it would be a challenge today. I also want to thank the support from the crowd. They made a difference today and it was an amazing atmosphere for a college tennis match so thank you to everyone who came out!
“I’m really proud of the way our team approached today’s match. We talked a lot about what type of mindset we want to approach each match with after yesterday’s match. They played with focus, energy, determination and a lot of resilience. To be down match points in all three doubles matches and still find a way to win says a lot about their resilience, grit and just willingness to fight through those uncomfortable moments. I’m really proud of the team and excited to build off of today’s…