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June 16, 2003
As the 2002-2003 season began, optimism was high around the Virginia women’s tennis program. Five letterwinners returned from the previous season and were joined by one of the best recruiting classes in the program’s history. As the season progressed, there was ever mounting evidence that 2002-03 would be a season to remember for Virginia women’s tennis, as they made history all season long.
“I feel this season was indicative of the positive changes which our program has made over the past few years,” stated Virginia head coach Phil Rogers. “We made tremendous improvement this season and we look forward to continuing that improvement next season.”
The year began with a successful fall season as the Cavaliers had strong showings at the Virginia Tech Invitational, the Wake Forest Deacon Classic, the Old Dominion Invitational and the ITA Regionals. The team had two undefeated days of play (day one at Virginia Tech and day two at Wake Forest), the first time the team had two undefeated days during the same fall season. Overall, the Cavaliers went 74-33 in singles and 28-8 in doubles during the fall.
The Cavaliers carried that momentum into the dual match season in the spring. In a season-opening trip to Nashville, the Cavaliers took No.8 Vanderbilt to the limit before falling 4-3. The next day, the team won its first match, defeating Middle Tennessee 5-2.
The following weekend was a historic one for Virginia tennis. During a trip to Huntington, W. Va., the Cavaliers defeated No. 75 Marshall 6-1 before pulling the biggest upset in school history the next day. The team defeated No. 14 Kentucky 5-2, the highest ranked team that the program has ever beaten.
Virginia returned to Charlottesville for its first home match of the season on January 31, defeating Old Dominion 6-1. After consecutive losses to nationally ranked foes Penn and VCU, the Cavaliers embarked on their spring break trip to Florida. Virginia won the first three matches of the trip, defeating nationally ranked Boston College and Florida Atlantic, along with Florida International before falling to No. 22 Miami.
After a win at Richmond, the Cavaliers began the ACC season with a 4-3 win over Florida State in Tallahassee during the following week. Upon returning home, the Cavaliers defeated Virginia Tech 7-0 before topping No. 22 Oregon 6-1. Against Oregon, Henriette Williams upset No. 17 ranked Daria Panova at No. 1 singles.
After the win over Oregon, the Cavaliers moved to No. 22 in the rankings, their highest ranking of the season. The team then suffered a four-match losing streak in conference play. The Cavaliers fell to Top 25 teams Georgia Tech and Clemson at home and No. 13 North Carolina and No. 4 Duke on the road.
Virginia would rebound by taking all three matches of a season-ending homestand. The Cavaliers defeated Maryland, Wake Forest, and NC State to finish the ACC season with a 4-4 record, which was good for fifth place.
At the ACC Tournament in Raleigh, N.C., the Cavaliers opened play by avenging a regular season defeat to Georgia Tech 4-3 in the quarterfinals. Virginia would fall to No. 1 seed Duke in the semifinals. Before the tournament, at the annual awards banquet, Cavalier fourth year Jennifer Tuchband was named All-ACC.
The Cavaliers were selected to participate in the 2003 NCAA Tournament, earning a No. 2 seed and traveling to Knoxville, Tennessee. Virginia advanced with a 4-0 win over Ohio State in the first round. Virginia was one of the last 32 teams left in the tournament before falling to the No. 7 national seed, Tennessee, 4-1 in the second round.
The season concluded as two Cavaliers participated in the NCAA Individual Championships. Tuchband competed in the 64-player NCAA Singles Championship and Tuchband and fellow fourth-year Henriette Williams competed in the 32-team NCAA Doubles Championship.
In the final ITA rankings of the season, the Cavaliers finished No. 35 as a team. That ranking was an improvement of 22 places from their 2002 year end ranking of No. 57. In the national singles rankings, Tuchband was No. 89, while Williams was No. 97. In the national doubles rankings, Tuchband and Williams finished the season at No. 35, just ahead of Cavalier first-years Lori Stern and Kristen James at No. 36.