Virginia Falls To Old Dominion In Season Opener, 5-2
Jan. 18, 2018
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia (0-1) women’s tennis team dropped its first match of the season on Thursday (Jan. 18), falling in a 5-2 contest to Old Dominion (3-0) at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.
The tight contest featured two singles matches that went to three sets, while three more singles matches involved sets decided by tiebreak.
“It was a very tough match or us and I give a lot of credit to Old Dominion,” said Virginia head coach Sara O’Leary. “They competed very well. It was their third match and our first match. We were getting our feet wet and were a little tight in some difficult situations. This is a great opportunity for us to learn from this match and build off of it.
“I feel like our next few matches are going to be battles just like this one. We have to learn from this match and understand why we were tight in those moments and what we can do better to help with those nerves. We’re going to learn and get better.”
Virginia opened strong, claiming the doubles point to take the early lead on the Monarchs. The Cavalier pairing of Cassie Mercer (Huntington, W.V.) and Teodora Radosavljevic (Belgrade, Serbia) won 6-3 on court two get things started for the home team. The No. 14-ranked pairing of Rosie Johanson (Abbotsford, British Columbia) and Meghan Kelley (Falmouth, Maine) clinched the doubles point with a 6-3 win on court one, before the pairing of Chloe Gullickson (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) and Erica Susi (Vero Beach, Fla.) capped things with a 6-2 win on court three.
In singles play, Johanson picked up the lone win for the Cavaliers. She fought through a second-set tiebreak, one of the three tiebreaks in singles play on the afternoon, to give Virginia the 2-0 lead in the overall match score. Johanson, who is the No. 48-ranked player nationally, defeated Holly Hutchinson 6-4, 7-6 (4) on court one.
The Monarchs would rattle off three straight singles wins to take the lead, winning on courts four, two and six on the way to the match lead.
With the outcome still in play, the remaining matches on courts three and five moved into third sets. The Monarchs won both matches to secure the match, clinching with 7-5 wins in the third set on both courts.
Virginia will return to action on Sunday, opening ACC play on the road at Boston College. The match is set for a 10 a.m. first serve.
Old Dominion 5, Virginia 2
Singles:
1. No. 48 Rosie Johanson def. Holly Hutchinson (ODU), 6-4, 7-6 (4)
2. Natalia Vlasova (ODU) def. Cassie Mercer, 6-4, 7-6 (4)
3. Yulia Starodubtseva (ODU) def. No. 111 Meghan Kelley, 6-1, 3-6, 7-5
4. Victoria Olivarez (ODU) def. Chloe Gullickson, 6-4, 6-3
5. Louie McLelland (ODU) def. Teodora Radosavljevic, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5
6. Adriana Rajkovic (ODU) def. Erica Susi, 7-6 (5), 6-2
Order of Finish: 1, 4, 2, 6, 5, 3
Doubles:
1. Johanson/Kelley def. Hutchinson/Starodubtseva (ODU), 6-3
2. Mercer/Radosavljevic def. Olivarez/Vlasova (ODU), 6-3
3. Gullickson/Susi def. Malenko/Rajkovic (ODU), 6-2
Order of Finish: 2, 1, 3