Virginia Plays Baylor in NCAA Round of 16 on Friday

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May 13, 2015

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – No. 9 seed Virginia (23-5) will make its fifth consecutive round of 16 appearance against No. 8 seed Baylor (27-6) on Friday (May 15) at the NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship in Waco, Texas. First serve at Hurd Tennis Center on the Baylor campus is set for 8 p.m. ET. Links to NCAA live scoring and streaming video will be available on VirginiaSports.com.

The Cavaliers advanced to round of 16 with a 4-2 win over No. 29 South Carolina in the round of 32 on Sunday (May 10) in Charlottesville. Virginia captured the doubles point and Maci Epstein (Winter Park, Fla.), Stephanie Nauta (Galveston, Texas) and Danielle Collins (St. Petersburg, Fla.) earned singles wins against the Gamecocks. The Cavaliers also defeated in-state rival VCU (4-0) during their school-best seventh consecutive NCAA Championship appearance.

The Cavaliers are 17-15 all-time in the NCAA Championship, including a 15-8 mark under head coach Mark Guilbeau. The three-time ITA Atlantic Region Coach of the Year has a 171-92 mark in 10 seasons at Virginia and 325-181 record in 18 seasons overall.

All-ACC performers Julia Elbaba (Oyster Bay, N.Y.), Collins and Nauta lead the Cavaliers into Friday’s action. Elbaba, who won the 2014 ITA National Indoor Singles Championship, earned All-ACC honors for the third straight season and has a 16-4 dual record. Reigning NCAA singles champion Collins earned her second straight All-ACC honor and has a team-leading 21-4 dual mark including a 12-match winning streak. Nauta, who won the 2014 ITA Atlantic Region singles championship, earned her third straight All-ACC honor and has a 16-9 dual record.

UCLA transfer Skylar Morton (Bethesda, Md.) has added an 18-7 dual mark and Epstein has a career-high 29 singles wins. Freshman Cassie Mercer (Huntington, W.Va.) has added a 13-8 dual record and sophomore Marie Faure (Toulouse, France) is 8-1.

The 28th-ranked tandem of Elbaba and Morton is expected to compete at No. 1 doubles, while Nauta and Mercer will compete at No. 2. The veteran duo of Collins and Epstein are set at No. 3 doubles. Elbaba and Morton are 4-0 in dual action and Nauta and Mercer are 5-1. Collins and Epstein are 7-2 on court three.

Virginia is 2-4 all-time vs. Baylor, including a 4-1 win in the 2014 NCAA round of 16 and 6-1 loss in Waco earlier this season. The Cavaliers claimed the doubles point and Elbaba (No. 1), Collins (No. 2) and Nauta (No. 3) claimed singles wins in the NCAA win last season. Elbaba and Collins didn’t compete in this year’s 6-1 loss at Baylor. The Cavaliers played with only four players and forfeited at Nos. 5 and 6 singles in the loss.

The Virginia-Baylor winner will meet the USC-Texas Tech winner in the NCAA quarterfinals on Sunday, May 17.