No. 14 Virginia Falls 5-2 to No. 1 North Carolina

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –  The Virginia women’s tennis team (4-2, 0-1 ACC) suffered a 5-2 loss against No. 1 North Carolina (10-0, 1-0 ACC) on Sunday (Feb. 21) at the Boar’s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville, Va.

Freshman Emma Navarro (Charleston, S.C.) and sophomore Natasha Subhash (Fairfax, Va.) earned the points for the Cavaliers with both toppling top-10-ranked opponents in singles.

North Carolina won the doubles point and took the first three singles matches in straight sets to build up a 4-0 lead. The two teams played super tiebreakers on the final three courts with UNC taking court five and Virginia winning courts one and two to make the final score 5-2.

Navarro faced No. 3 Alexa Graham on the top court. After being edged 7-5 in the first set, Navarro took the second set 6-3 to force a super tiebreaker to decide the match. Graham staved off four match points in the tiebreaker, but Navarro closed it out to win 10-7.

Subhash faced No. 6 Cameron Morra on court two. She won her first set 6-3 but Morra countered with a 6-2 win in the second to force the super tiebreaker, which Subhash won 10-6.

In doubles, North Carolina won 6-2 on court two. Senior Vivian Glozman (Bellevue, Wash.) and junior Amber O’Dell (New Milford, N.J.) evened things up with a 6-4 win on court three. Navarro and senior Rosie Johanson (Vancouver, Canada) were edged 6-4 on the top court as UNC captured the point.

MATCH NOTES

• This was the ACC opener for both teams
• Emma Navarro is ranked No. 80 in singles and Natasha Subhash is No. 11. All singles rankings are from the preseason as the ITA has not updated them yet this season
• Navarro improves to 5-0 in singles this season
• This is Subhash’s second career win over a player ranked in the top-10. She defeated then-No. 5 Alexa Graham last season in straight sets
• Both teams had conference matches scheduled for Friday (Feb. 19), but both were postponed due to the ice storm

FROM SARA O’LEARY

“We had a tough match today with the University of North Carolina, who’s the number one team in the country and they’re number one for a reason. They played well. I thought that we fought really well especially at the number one in two positions who got wins over top 10 opponents and just hung in there and played really well in those spots. I think we were able to see some things that we need to work on within our game. In doubles, I think we could have done things a little bit differently, a little bit better to start off this match. A lot of respect to UNC. They’re a very good team. This is an opportunity for us to learn and grow from this match.”

ON THE HORIZON

• Virginia is on the road next week, playing at Boston College on Friday, Feb. 26 at noon before heading to Syracuse for a Sunday, Feb. 28 match against the Orange
• The Cavaliers next home match is Saturday, March 6 against Louisville

#1 North Carolina 5, #14 Virginia 2

Singles competition

1. #80 Emma Navarro (VA) def. #3 Alexa Graham (NC) 5-7, 6-3, 1-0 (10-7)
2. #11 Natasha Subhash (VA) def. #6 Cameron Morra (NC) 6-3, 2-6, 1-0 (10-6)
3. #79 Elizabeth Scotty (NC) def. #47 Rosie Johanson (VA) 6-1, 6-4
4. #120 Fiona Crawley (NC) def. Hibah Shaikh (VA) 6-0, 6-1
5. Anika Yarlagadda (NC) def. #91 Sofia Munera (VA) 6-3, 3-6, 1-0 (10-6)
6. Reilly Tran (NC) def. Vivian Glozman (VA) 6-0, 6-3

Doubles competition

1. Sara Daavettila/Cameron Morra (NC) def. Emma Navarro/Rosie Johanson (VA) 6-4
2. Makenna Jones/Elizabeth Scotty (NC) def. Natasha Subhash/Sofia Munera (VA) 6-2
3. Vivian Glozman/Amber O’Dell (VA) def. Alle Sanford/Reilly Tran (NC) 6-4

Order of finish: Doubles (2,3,1); Singles (4,3,6,5,2,1)

T-2:38 A-42