Virginia Defeats LSU 4-2 To Advance To NCAA Round of 16
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Box Score May 14, 2016
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – For the sixth consecutive season Virginia (18-10) punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 16, posting a 4-2 win over LSU (19-12) on Saturday at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.
Virginia will now face North Carolina in the Round of 16 at the Case Tennis Center at the University of Tulsa on Thursday, May 19, at 10 a.m. ET. It will be the third time the Cavaliers have faced the Tar Heels this season.
“We want to just thank the Virginia staff and all the fans who made today possible and such a great environment,” said head coach Mark Guilbeau. “Full credit to LSU, because there’s no way we’re this good if they weren’t as good as they are. They fought hard and we fought hard. It was awesome. I’m happy for our seniors to get to experience this one more time and for our freshmen to experience it right away. Hopefully they see that this is our standard here at Virginia and keep going.”
After rain forced a delay in the start as the match moved indoors, the Cavaliers rallied for an early lead in doubles and then rallied for wins on courts three and four to clinch the victory.
Virginia got singles wins from Danielle Collins (St. Petersburg, Fla.), Stephanie Nauta (Galveston, Texas) and Meghan Kelley (Falmouth, Me.) to clinch the win over the Tigers.
The Cavaliers got on the board first, grabbing the doubles point with a hard-fought victory on court two. The teams split on courts one and three with the 18th-ranked duo of Collins and Kelley winning 6-4 on court one, while the pairing of Elbaba and Susi fell 6-1 on court three.
LSU broke the Cavaliers on court two and took the 5-3 lead in the set, but the Cavaliers broke back, held serve and broke again to surge in front 6-5 before the Tigers would break serve again and force the tiebreak. Virginia then cruised in the tiebreak as Mercer and Nauta picked up the 7-6 (3) victory to give the Cavaliers the doubles point.
Second-ranked Collins then gave Virginia the second point of the match, defeating No. 22 Joana Vale Costa 6-1, 6-2 on court one.
LSU tied the match up with wins on courts five and six as the Tigers’ Abby Owens defeated Erica Susi (Vero Beach, Fla.) 6-3, 6-1 on court five and Ella Taylor defeated Cassie Mercer (Huntington, W.V.) 6-1, 6-1 on court six.
Virginia moved back in front with a win on court four as Kelley rallied for a 7-5, 7-5 win over Skylar Kuykendall. Kelley fought back from a three-game deficit in the first set and then fought through nine games that went to deuce – winning five of them – in the second set to give the Cavaliers the 3-2 lead in the match.
Nauta then clinched the victory on court three, rallying for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Ryann Foster.
No. 14 seed Virginia 4, LSU 2
Singles
No. 2 Danielle Collins def. No. 22 Joana Vale Costa, 6-1, 6-2
No. 12 Julia Elbaba vs. No. 59 Jessica Golovin, 6-4 ,5-7 5-2 (suspended)
No. 97 Stephanie Nauta def. Ryann Foster, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4
Meghan Kelley def. Skylar Kuykendall, 7-5, 7-5
Abby Owens def. Erica Susi, 6-3, 6-1
Ella Taylor def. Cassie Mercer, 6-2, 6-1
Order of Finish: 1, 5, 6, 4, 3
Doubles
No. 18 Danielle Collins/Meghan Kelley def. Ryann Foster/Abby Owens, 6-4
Cassie Mercer/Stephanie Nauta def. Skylar Holloway/Skylar Kuykendall, 7-6 (3)
Joana Vale Costa/Ella Taylor def. Elbaba/Susi, 6-1
Order of Finish: 3, 1, 2