No. 23 Virginia Posts 7-0 Shutout Of Richmond
Feb. 23, 2018
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 23 Virginia (7-2) women’s tennis team closed out a five-match home stand on Friday, winning its sixth consecutive match with a 7-0 victory over Richmond (1-3) at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.
The Cavaliers picked up the doubles point before sweeping through all six singles matches on the way to the shutout victory over the Spiders.
“I’m really proud of the effort and focus the ladies put forth today,” said Virginia head coach Sara O’Leary. “We’ve talked about making every point better and every point being an opportunity. They did a good job of that today. It didn’t matter who they were playing or what the score was, they were intense and focused on every point. We definitely got better today.”
The Cavaliers got dominant performances on courts one and three in doubles to take the early lead in the match. Virginia’s duo of Rosie Johanson (Abbotsford, British Columbia) and Meghan Kelley (Falmouth, Maine), ranked No. 14 nationally, won 6-2 over Richmond’s duo of Giffenig and Marshall. The doubles point was secured moments later when the pairing of Hunter Bleser (New Braunfels, Texas) and Chloe Gullickson (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) won 6-1 over Ramirez and Rosales on court three.
Virginia made it a clean sweep of the doubles matches as Cassie Mercer (Huntington, W.Va.) and Teodora Radosavljevic (Belgrade, Serbia) won 7-6 (1) over the Spiders’ Dunbar and Zlateva on court two.
Kelley wasted no time extending the lead for the Cavaliers in singles play, picking up a 6-0, 6-0 win over Lea Owens on court three before Gullickson would make it a three-point lead with a 6-1, 6-1 win over Kiana Marshall on court four.
Bleser then clinched the match on court six, posting a 6-4, 6-0 win over Adrienne Haynes.
With the match decided in favor of the home team, the extra points came as Johanson turned in her 6-4, 6-0 win over Dessi Zlateva on court two and Radosavljevic won 6-3, 6-4 over Lyndell Giffenig on court five. Mercer capped the shutout with her win on court one, defeating Emily Dunbar in a super tiebreak 6-3, 1-6, 1-0 (5).
Virginia will return to action on Friday, March 2, when the Cavaliers hit the road to return to ACC play at No. 12 Georgia Tech. First serve is set for 2:30 p.m. ET.
No. 23 Virginia 7, Richmond 0
Singles
1. Cassie Mercer def. Emily Dunbar (UR), 6-3, 1-6, 1-0 (5)
2. No. 67 Rosie Johanson def. Dessi Zlateva (UR), 6-4, 6-0
3. Meghan Kelley def. Lea Owens (UR), 6-0, 6-0
4. Chloe Gullickson def. Kiana Marshall (UR), 6-1, 6-1
5. Teodora Radosavljevic def. Lyndell Giffenig (UR), 6-3, 6-4
6. Hunter Bleser def. Adrienne Haynes (UR), 6-4, 6-0
Order of Finish: 3, 4, 6, 2, 5, 1
Doubles
1. No. 14 Johanson/Kelley def. Giffenig/Marshall (UR), 6-2
2. Mercer/Radosavljevic def. Dunbar/Zlatseva (UR), 7-6 (1)
3. Bleser/Gullickson def. Ramirez/Rosales (UR), 6-1
Order of Finish: 1, 3, 2