CARY, N.C. – The Virginia women’s tennis team (22-3) won 4-0 against Florida State (16-8) in the semifinals of the 2024 ACC Women’s Tennis Championship on Saturday (April 20) at the Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C.
Virginia won the doubles point and singles matches on courts two, three and six to take the match. Grad student Natasha Subhash clinched the victory for the Cavaliers.
Virginia, the No. 2 seed in the championship, will face top-seeded North Carolina (21-3) on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the final. It will stream online on ACCNX.
Senior Sara Ziodato and sophomore Meggie Navarro opened the match with a 6-3 win on the third doubles court. Florida State took the top court 7-5. Court two went to a tiebreaker to decide the point with senior Hibah Shaikh and Subhash winning it 7-2 to give UVA the 1-0 lead.
The Cavaliers took four of six first sets in singles.
Sophomore Mélodie Collard closed out a 6-1, 6-1 victory on court six to give UVA a 2-0 lead minutes after courts four and five had finished their first sets. Shaikh won a break point at deuce on court two to finish a 6-3, 6-0 win to put UVA up 3-0.
Subhash defeated Anna Arkadianou 6-2, 6-2 on court three to secure the victory.
Virginia is vying for its third ACC title and first under head coach Sara O’Leary.
FROM HEAD COACH SARA O’LEARY
“I’m just really proud of the composure that they showed especially in doubles. Court two was down three-zero, with a point to go down four-zero and just stayed in there, stayed committed to what the plan was and stayed so tough. They had two match points at six-five and didn’t win those points, so for them to come out like they did in that tiebreaker and just stayed so focused on the task at hand, I’m just really proud of them. And then in singles, I felt like we had girls that started really strong right from the beginning and they didn’t let their foot off the gas. That’s what it took today. I’m just really proud of them.”
MATCH NOTES
- Virginia is ranked No. 4 in the latest ITA Rankings. Florida State is 23. North Carolina is No. 5
- Virginia also won its quarterfinal match on Friday against Notre Dame by a 4-0 score
- Virginia is looking for its third ACC title. UVA won back-to-back titles in 2014-15
- Virginia has made three trips to the finals since 1990 (the present format for the championship) winning the title in 2014 and 2015. UVA was the runner-up in 2022, falling to Duke in the final after topping UNC 4-2 in the semifinals
- This…