No. 5 Virginia Hosts No. 12 UNC and Maryland This Weekend

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March 7, 2014

CHARLOTTESVILLE – The No. 5 Virginia women’s tennis team hosts a pair of ACC matches this weekend at Snyder Tennis Center. The Cavaliers host No. 12 North Carolina on Saturday, March 8 and Maryland on Sunday, March 9. First serve is set for 12 p.m. each day.

Virginia (8-2, 3-0 ACC) is 13-36 all-time vs. North Carolina (11-3, 3-1 ACC), including last season’s 4-3 win over the then-No. 1 Tar Heels. The victory was Virginia’s first against a top-ranked opponent in school history. The Cavaliers are 33-10 in 43 all-time meetings against the Terrapins (5-3, 1-3 ACC). Virginia posted a 7-0 win at Maryland last season.

The Cavaliers are led by sophomore Julia Elbaba (Oyster Bay, N.Y.), who is No. 4 in the latest ITA singles rankings and No. 7 in doubles with partner Rachel Pierson (Princeton, N.J.). In dual play, Elbaba is 8-0 at No. 1 singles and 5-3 at No. 1 doubles with Pierson.

Sophomore Stephanie Nauta (Galveston, Texas) has vaulted up to No. 42 in the singles rankings with her 7-0 dual mark. Pierson is ranked No. 47, while Danielle Collins (St. Petersburg, Fla.) is No. 58. Maci Epstein (Winter Park, Fla.) and Marie Faure (Toulouse, France) are also key singles contributors for UVa this season.

In doubles, Nauta and Epstein are 6-2 in dual action, while the Collins and Li Xi (Kunming, China) tandem is 1-2.

The Cavaliers, who reached a program-high No. 3 ranking on Feb. 25, have defeated No. 1 Duke (5-2), then-No. 61 Boston College (6-1) and Syracuse (6-1) during their three-match winning streak.

North Carolina’s singles lineup features No. 1 Jamie Loeb, No. 6 Hayley Carter, No. 52 Caroline Price, No. 83 Whitney Kay and No. 119 Ashley Dai. The Tar Heels doubles lineup includes No. 5 Price and Kay, No. 9 Carter and Loeb and No. 32 Laura Slater and Kate Vialle.

Live video and scoring for both matches will be available at VirginiaSports.com.