Virginia Falls 4-1 to North Carolina in the ACC Semifinals
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Box Score April 23, 2016
CARY, N.C. – The fifth-seeded Virginia women’s tennis team (16-10, 9-5 ACC) was eliminated from the 2016 ACC Women’s Tennis Championship with a 4-1 loss in the semifinals to top-seeded North Carolina (28-2, 14-0 ACC) on Saturday (April 23) at the Cary Tennis Center in Cary, N.C.
Senior Julia Elbaba (Oyster Bay, N.Y.), currently at No. 16 in the ITA rankings, earned the Cavaliers’ lone point with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over No. 39 Whitney Kay at No. 2 singles.
The Cavaliers dropped the doubles point and went down 2-0 when sophomore Cassie Mercer (Huntington, W.V.) was forced to withdraw from her match at No. 6 with an ankle injury. North Carolina picked up wins at No. 5 and No. 3 singles to secure the victory and advance to Sunday’s final.
“Credit to Carolina, especially in doubles where they got off to a really good start, but we fought back” said Virginia head coach Mark Guilbeau. “It was important to at least leave the doubles, even without the point, with some positives and some momentum. Singles went as we expected as we knew there would be some battles and there might be some lopsided courts in both directions. I am certainly very proud of the girls and their fight. We had a situation where this was likely to be 4-3 in one way or the other, but we certainly couldn’t afford a bad break. Our thoughts are with Cassie, who we hope will be healthy and well. She is handling this very well, as is the team. I think she will be well, which is the important thing, as well as our team keeping with the process we have been on. We wish the best of luck to Carolina in the championship.”
The No. 1 singles match featured the top-ranked player in the country, UNC’s Hayley Carter, against No. 2 senior Danielle Collins (St. Petersburg, Fla.). Collins won the first set 6-3 and the two were tied 2-2 when the match was abandoned. Freshman Meghan Kelley (Falmouth, Me.) led 6-1, 5-1 over Chloe Ouellet-Pizer on court four when play was halted.
Virginia can still earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. The complete NCAA Tournament field will be announced on Tuesday, May 3 at 5:00 p.m. in a live-streaming selection show on NCAA.com.
#2 North Carolina 4, #16 Virginia 1
Singles competition
1. #1 Hayley Carter (UNC) vs. #2 Danielle Collins (VA) 3-6, 2-2, unfinished
2. #16 Julia Elbaba (VA) def. #39 Whitney Kay (UNC) 6-1, 6-2
3. #57 Jessie Aney (UNC) def. #85 Stephanie Nauta (VA) 6-1, 6-3
4. Chloe Ouellet-Pizer (UNC) vs. Meghan Kelley (VA) 1-6, 1-5, unfinished
5. Marika Akkerman (UNC) def. Erica Susi (VA) 6-1, 6-2
6. Ashley Dai (UNC) def. Cassie Mercer (VA) 6-2, 2-2, retired
Doubles competition
1. #4 Hayley Carter/Whitney Kay (UNC) def. #16 Danielle Collins/Meghan Kelley (VA) 6-2
2. #89 Kate Vialle/Jessie Aney (UNC) vs. Stephanie Nauta/Cassie Mercer (VA) 5-3, unfinished
3. Ashley Dai/Chloe Ouellet-Pizer (UNC) def. Julia Elbaba/Erica Susi (VA) 6-2
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (6,2,5,3)