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COLLEGE PARK, Md. – The No. 11 Virginia women’s tennis team suffered its first ACC loss of the season, falling to No. 34 Maryland 4-3 Sunday afternoon at the Tennis Center of College Park. The Cavaliers fall to 13-3 overall and 2-1 in the ACC, while the Terrapins improve to 11-2 and 1-2 in the ACC.

Maryland took an early lead by winning the doubles point for a 1-0 lead in the dual match. Lindsey Hardenbergh (Fairfax Station, Va.) and Caryssa Peretz (Cherry Hill, N.J.) won 8-3 at No. 3 doubles, but the Terrapins won at the top two spots to take the point.

The Cavaliers answered in singles, winning four of the six first sets. They closed out three of those matches, as Hardenbergh defeated Ana Belzunce 6-3, 6-1 at No. 2, Erin Vierra (Norwell, Mass.) topped Julia Huschke 6-1, 6-2 at No. 4 and Peretz downed Jordan Hansbrough 6-1, 7-5 at No. 6. The Terrapins scored straight set wins at No. 1 and No. 3 and the match was tied 3-3 with the match at No. 5 to decide the outcome. Maryland’s Welma Luus rallied for a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Maria Fuccillo (Rockville, Md.) to clinch the upset.

“It was a rough day for us,” said head coach Mark Guilbeau. “Our level of play was not strong enough on enough of the courts. The bottom line is that although our effort was good, especially on the deciding court, we put ourselves in a difficult situation by not playing well during several stages of the match, none more important than at the beginning of doubles. I feel bad for this team and hopefully we can bounce back from this and have more success in the future. Give a lot of credit to Maryland. Displaying passion for your sport and competing is a large part of what athletics is about; their coach and team showed that today.”

The Cavaliers will return home for a pair of ACC matches next weekend. They host No. 6 Miami on Saturday at noon and No. 35 Florida State on Sunday at 11 a.m.

#34 Maryland 4, #11 Virginia 3

Doubles:
1. Sanchez-Quintanar/Sanford (Md) def. #20 Fraser/Tomljanovic (UVa) 8-5
2. Belzunce/Luus (Md) def. Fuccillo/Vierra (UVa)
3. Hardenbergh/Peretz (UVa) def. Hansbrough/Huschke (Md) 8-3

Singles:
1. #121 Cristina Sanchez-Quintanar (Md) def. #55 Emily Fraser (UVa) 6-2, 6-2
2. #71 Lindsey Hardenbergh (UVa) def. Ana Belzunce (Md) 6-3, 6-1
3. Jordan Sanford (Md) def. #96 Hana Tomljanovic (UVa) 6-4, 6-3
4. #80 Erin Vierra (UVa) def. Julia Huschke (Md) 6-1, 6-2
5. Welma Luus (Md) def. Maria Fuccillo (UVa) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4
6. Caryssa Peretz (UVa) def. Jordan Hansbrough (Md) 6-1, 7-5

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