Cavalier Women's Tennis Upsets No. 15 Florida State
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CHARLOTTESVILLE The Virginia women’s tennis team posted its biggest upset in two seasons, topping No. 15 Florida State 4-3 Sunday at the Snyder Tennis Center. Amanda Rales (Bethesda, Md.) won the last match on the courts, rallying from a two-break deficit at 4-1 in the third set, to beat No. 68 Lauren Macfarlane to clinch the upset.
The match started with Virginia taking the doubles point, which proved to be the difference in the match. At No. 2 doubles, Rales and Jennifer Stevens (Miami, Fla.) cruised to an 8-2 win over No. 53 Ania Rynarzewska and Katie Rybakova. After the Seminoles won at No. 3 doubles, the Cavalier team of Maggie Yahner (Las Vegas, Nev.) and Lindsey Pereira (Arlington, Texas) clinched the opening point with an 8-3 win over Carolin Walter and Federica Suess at No. 1 doubles.
In singles, the Seminoles drew even at 1-1 as Rybakova topped Stevens at No. 6 singles. Yahner gave Virginia the lead again, 2-1, as she completed a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Jessica Wente at No. 4 singles. Florida State recorded wins at No. 6 and No. 5 singles to take a 3-2 lead.
The dual match came down to the matches at No. 1 and No. 3 singles, where the Cavaliers had won the first set and lost the second in both. At No. 3, Pereira took the first set 6-4 against Walter, but dropped the second 6-3. In the third set, Walter went up an early break and led 4-2. However, Pereira rallied to win the last four games of the match for the 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 win to draw Virginia even in the dual match.
At No. 1 singles, Rales won a tight first set, 7-5, against Macfarlane, but the Seminole rallied to take the second set 6-1. Macfarlane continued her momentum in the third set to break Rales in the first game of the decisive set and later broke serve again to take a 4-1 lead. Rales took back the momentum, winning the next four games to take a 5-4 lead of her own. With Macfarlane serving to stay in the match, Rales had a pair of match points when she took a 15-40 lead. But Macfarlane regrouped to win four consecutive points and held serve to draw even at 5-5. Rales then fell behind 0-40 in her service game, but rallied to win five consecutive points to hold serve and take a 6-5 lead. With Macfarlane serving to force a tiebreaker, she won the first two points before Rales won the next three to give her a third match point. Rales took advantage of that third chance and clinched the upset for the Cavaliers.
The upset of the No. 15 Seminoles marked the highest ranked opponent Virginia has beaten since a 4-3 upset of No. 6 and eventual NCAA runner-up Miami in 2006.
With the win, Virginia improves to 7-8 overall and 3-2 in the ACC. The Seminoles fall to 11-3 overall, 2-2 in the ACC.
The Cavaliers return to action on Friday, March 28 as they visit Maryland.
No. 50 Virginia 4, No. 15 Florida State 3
Doubles:
1. Yahner/Pereira (UVa) def. Walter/Suess (FSU) 8-3
2. Stevens/Rales (UVa) def. #53 Rybakova/Rynarzewska (FSU) 8-2
3. Macfarlane/Wente (FSU) def. Alexander/Williams (UVa) 8-4
Singles:
1. Amanda Rales (UVa) def. #68 Lauren Macfarlane (FSU) 7-5, 1-6, 7-5
2. #33 Katie Rybakova (FSU) def. Jennifer Stevens (UVa) 6-4, 6-1
3. Lindsey Pereira (UVa) def. #100 Carolin Walter (FSU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-4
4. Maggie Yahner (UVa) def. Jessica Wente (FSU) 6-3, 6-2
5. Ania Rynarzewska (FSU) def. Lara Alexander (UVa) 6-4, 6-4
6. Federica Suess (FSU) def. Hampton Williams (UVa) 6-1, 6-4
Order of Finish: Doubles- 2,3,1 Singles- 2,4,6,5,3,1
Records: Virginia (7-8, 3-2 ACC), Florida State (11-3, 2-2 ACC)