No. 13 Virginia Opens NCAA Championship on Friday against LIU

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –  The No. 13 Virginia women’s tennis team (14-6) will be hosting first and second-round matches of the 2021 NCAA Women’s Tennis Championship on Friday and Saturday, May 7-8, at the Virginia Tennis Facility at the Boar’s Head Resort.

FRIDAY, MAY 7

12 p.m.     #15 Tennessee (16-8) vs James Madison (14-3)

3 p.m.       #13 VIRGINIA vs LIU (9-0)

SATURDAY, MAY 8

4 p.m.       Second Round

FOLLOW ALONG

• Live scoring and live video streams will be available for all matches

ATTENDANCE POLICY

• Due to health and safety considerations, in addition to the current guidelines for sports venues set by the Commonwealth of Virginia, attendance for the NCAA Championship matches will be limited to guests of participating student-athletes and coaching staffs. Tickets will not be available to the general public

NOTING THE CAVALIERS

• The Cavaliers are No. 13 in this week’s ITA computerized rankings but are the No. 14 seed in the championship
• Senior Rosie Johanson (Vancouver, Canada) brings a 12-match win streak into the NCAA Championship. She is 16-4 overall this season and is currently ranked No. 90
• Freshman Emma Navarro (Charleston, S.C.) is ranked No. 3 in singles and earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Singles Championship. It is the second-highest seeding in program history next to the No. 2 seed earned by Danielle Collins in 2016. It is the fourth time in program history that a Cavalier has earned one of the top eight seeds. She has a 17-1 mark in singles, including 14-straight wins to begin her career
• Sophomore Natasha Subhash (Fairfax, Va.) is ranked No. 9 in singles this week after reaching a career-best mark of eight the previous week. Subhash will be a 9-16 seed in the NCAA Singles Championship. This is the fourth time in program history that a Cavalier earned a 9-16 seeding. She is 15-4 this season
• Navarro is the ACC Freshman of the Year and All-ACC First Team
• Subhash was last year’s ITA National Freshman of the Year and earned All-ACC First Team honors this year
• Johanson was named to the All-ACC Third Team
• All three UVA doubles teams continue to be ranked. They have been ranked in every ITA update since the first one was released on March 24
• Two UVA doubles teams will be playing in the NCAA Doubles Championship. Subhash and junior Sofia Munera (Periera, Colombia) are currently ranked No. 17. Navarro and Johanson also earned a berth and are currently ranked No. 21

VIRGINIA & THE NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

• This is the Cavaliers first time hosting since 2016 when the team advanced to the quarterfinals
• This is UVA’s eighth time hosting a regional
• This is UVA’s third-straight trip to the NCAA Championship. In each of the last two (2018 and 2019), the Cavaliers played in the Columbia Regional, both times falling in the second round to the Gamecocks
• Virginia has advanced to the Round of 16 six times
• The Cavaliers’ best finish has been two runs of the quarterfinals (2014 and 2016)
• This will be the NCAA Championship debut for both Navarro and Subhash as the tournament was not held last season
• This is Johanson’s second NCAA Championship appearance as sat out the 2019 season rehabbing an injury. Both of her singles matches in 2018 were abandoned, so she is still looking for her first win in the championship
• This is Sofia Munera’s second NCAA Championship. She went 2-0 in singles in 2019, picking up wins on Court Five against both ODU and South Carolina (the lone point in UVA’s 4-1 loss to the Gamecocks)
• This is Amber O’Dell’s second NCAA Championship. She went 0-2 in singles in 2019
• This is Vivian Glozman’s second NCAA Championship. She was with Cal her freshman season when the Bears did not make the tournament. In 2019, she went 1-1 in singles, picking up a win against Old Dominion in the first round

QUICK LOOK AT THE OTHER TEAMS

• LIU (Long Island University) is making its fourth-straight NCAA tournament appearance, and sixth overall, after going undefeated in NEC action and claiming the NEC championship title
• The Sharks have only played nine matches this season
• Sofiya Kuzina was named the Northeast Conference Player of the Year
• Valentina Dancenco, Victoria Erechtchenkoand Kuzina earned first-team All-NEC honors in singles, and Erechtchenko and Jasmine Maduel earned first-team All-NEC honors in doubles
• This will be the first meeting between the two teams
• Tennessee is No. 15 in the latest ITA computerized rankings but is unseeded in the Championship
• UVA and Tennessee met in the opening match of ITA Kickoff Weekend this year (Jan. 23) with the Cavaliers winning 4-1
• The Lady Vols competed in the SEC Tournament, downing No. 39 Mississippi State and No. 10 LSU before falling to No. 2 Georgia
• Rebeka Mertenaand Daria Kuczer were named All-SEC Second Team
• Tennessee leads the all-time series 7-6
• James Madison is making its second-ever appearance in the NCAA Championship after winning the CAA Championship on May 3
• JMU is currently riding a six-match win streak. It repeated as conference champion after registering a pair of 4-0 victories against Towson and College of Charleston before upending William & Mary 4-2 to win the CAA Women’s Tennis Championship
• Alexis Franco, who primarily plays 5-singles, is 14-2 this season. Kylie Moulin, who plays four, is 13-2
• UVA leads the all-time series 14-3 against the Dukes

ON THE HORIZON

• The team advancing from the second round of the tournament will head to Orlando, Fla., where the USTA National Campus will be hosting the final four rounds of the tournament. The women’s Round of 16 will be held on Sunday, May 16, with quarterfinal matches on Wednesday, May 19. Men’s and women’s semi-finals will be held on May 21 and both team championships contested on Saturday, May 22
• The NCAA Singles and Doubles Championships will take place in the same location from May 23-28