No. 5 Virginia Faces Road Tests at Georgia and Michigan

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March 11, 2014

CHARLOTTESVILLE – The No. 5 Virginia women’s tennis team hits the road this week for a pair of non-conference matches. The Cavaliers play at No. 12 Georgia on Wednesday, March 12 and No. 13 Michigan on Friday, March 14.

The Cavaliers (9-3) are led by sophomore Julia Elbaba (Oyster Bay, N.Y.), who is ranked a program-best No. 3 in the latest ITA singles rankings and No. 9 in doubles with partner Rachel Pierson (Princeton, N.J.). In dual play, Elbaba is 9-1 at No. 1 singles and 7-3 at No. 1 doubles with Pierson.

Sophomore Stephanie Nauta (Galveston, Texas) is ranked No. 47 in the singles rankings with her 9-0 dual mark. Pierson is ranked No. 55, while Danielle Collins (St. Petersburg, Fla.) is No. 67. Maci Epstein (Winter Park, Fla.), Marie Faure (Toulouse, France), Li Xi (Kunming, China) and Caryssa Peretz (Cherry Hill, N.J.) have made solid singles contributions for UVa this season.

In doubles, Nauta and Epstein are ranked No. 41 with their 8-2 dual record, while the Collins and Xi tandem is 1-3.

The Cavaliers, who reached a program-high No. 3 ranking on Feb. 25, lost to then-No. 12 North Carolina (5-2) and defeated Maryland (7-0) last week.

Virginia is 0-1 all-time vs. Georgia (9-2). The Bulldogs’ singles lineup features No. 10 Lauren Herring, No. 15 Silvia Garcia, No. 21 Maho Kowase and No. 45 Lilly Kimbell. Georgia’s doubles lineup includes No. 3 Herring and Kowase, No. 36 Kate Fuller and Garcia and No. 54 Mia King and Kimbell.

The Cavaliers are 1-1 all-time against Michigan (8-2). The Wolverines’ singles lineup includes No. 7 Emina Bektas, No. 20 Ronit Yurovsky, No. 98 Brooke Bolender and No. 103 Sarah Lee. Bolender and Bektas are ranked No. 18 in doubles, while Michala Kucharova and Lee are No. 45. Lee and Amy Zhu are No. 75.

First serve is set for 10 a.m. in Athens, Ga. and 3:30 p.m. in Ann Arbor, Mich. Live video and stats for both matches will be available at VirginiaSports.com.