No. 4 Seed Virginia Advances to ACC Semifinals With Win Over Clemson

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Box Score April 24, 2015

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CARY, N.C. – No. 4 seed Virginia defeated No. 5 seed Clemson 4-1 in ACC Women’s Tennis Championship quarterfinal action on Friday (April 24) at Cary Tennis Park. The defending ACC champion Cavaliers improved to 19-5 and will play top-seeded North Carolina in the semifinals on Saturday (April 25) at 2 p.m.

The Cavaliers started fast with strong doubles play and Skylar Morton (Bethesda, Md.), No. 5 Julia Elbaba (Oyster Bay, N.Y.) and No. 19 Danielle Collins (St. Petersburg, Fla.) each recorded singles wins. Clemson received a singles win from No. 13 Joana Eidukonyte on court three, but fell to 16-9 with the loss.

“It was really good to see how we started in doubles,” Virginia head coach Mark Guilbeau said. “We were moving and working well together. We did a good job of carrying that point into singles. The team is hungrier now and more determined. We need to keep building from here and get ready for tomorrow’s match against North Carolina.”

In doubles, Collins and Maci Epstein (Winter Park, Fla.) beat Tristen Dewar and Beatrice Gumalya 8-1 on court three. Captain Stephanie Nauta (Galveston, Texas) and Cassie Mercer (Huntington, W.Va.) clinched the point with an 8-4 win over Jessy Rompies and Yuilynn Miao on court two. Elbaba and Morton held a 6-4 lead over Eidukonyte and Romy Koelzer on court one when the team point was clinched.

Clemson tied the match at 1-1 as Eidukonyte beat No. 36 Nauta 6-3, 6-1 on court three. Virginia quickly gained a 3-1 lead as Morton beat Dewar 6-1, 6-3 on court four and No. 5 Elbaba beat No. 34 Koelzer 6-2, 6-3 on court one. Collins clinched the win with a 6-4, 6-4 win over No. 68 Gumulya on court two.

First serve for the Virginia-North Carolina match is set for 2 p.m. The match will be broadcast on ESPN3 and live scoring is available on VirginiaSports.com.