/
.
Women's Tennis Downs South Carolina 5-2
Story Links
Feb. 2, 2014
CHARLOTTESVILLE – The No. 14 Virginia women’s tennis team recorded its highest-ranked victory of the season, downing No. 33 South Carolina 5-2 Sunday afternoon at the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar’s Head Sports Club. The Cavaliers (3-0) remained unbeaten on the season, while handing the Gamecocks (3-1) their first loss of the year.
“We knew we were going to be in for a tough match against a very good team,” said head coach Mark Guilbeau. “They are very athletic and in a lot of cases we were the ones who needed to create the offense and did a good job of that. Any win against a quality opponent is a good win and we will take it and now get ready for National Indoors.”
The Cavaliers took a 1-0 lead by winning the doubles point. Sophomores Maci Epstein (Winter Park, Fla.) and Stephanie Nauta (Galveston, Texas) gave Virginia the early advantage with a 6-2 win over Caroline Dailey and Ximena Siles Luna at No. 3. Eighth-ranked Julia Elbaba (Oyster Bay, N.Y.) and Rachel Pierson(Princeton, N.J.) clinched the opening point with a 7-5 win at No. 1 over Elixane Lechemia and Meghan Blevins.
In singles, Virginia extended its lead to 2-0 as Elbaba cruised to a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Lechemia at the top spot. Pierson made the score 3-0 with her 7-6(6), 4-6, 10-5 win over Brigit Folland at No. 3 singles. Marie Faure(Toulouse, France) clinched the win with a 6-2, 6-4 victory at No. 6 over Dailey. After South Carolina got wins by Blevins at No. 5 and Katerina Popova at No. 2, Nauta closed out the match with a 6-4, 7-5 win at No. 4 over Siles Luna.
Virginia will return to action next week as it hosts the 2014 ITA National Team Indoor Championships, Feb. 7-10 at the Boar’s Head Sports Club. The Cavaliers’ first round match will be Friday at 6:30 p.m. Virginia will learn its opponent early this week when the tournament draw is announced.