No. 9 Virginia Earns Invitation to ITA Indoors

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –  The No. 9 Virginia women’s tennis team (5-0) has earned a spot in the 16-team field of the 35^th Annual ITA National Team Indoor Championships after defeating No. 16 Stanford (2-1) by a 4-3 final on Saturday (Jan.29) in the championship match of ITA Kickoff Weekend.

Sophomore Emma Navarro clinched the victory for the Cavaliers with a win on the top court.

The Cavaliers and Cardinal split 7-5 decisions on courts two and three, leaving the doubles point to be decided on court one. Navarro and O’Dell battled Angelica Blake and Connie Ma to a 6-6 deadlock before being edged 8-6 in the tiebreaker to give Stanford the 1-0 lead.

Stanford increased the lead to 2-0 with a straight-set victory on five. The Cavaliers came charging back, picking up three wins in a five-minute span. Junior Sophia Munera won 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 on court four. After winning her first set in a tiebreaker, junior Natasha Subhash logged a 6-1 win in the second to take her match on court three. Freshman Elaine Chervinsky picked up a late break to close out a 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 victory on court two.

Stanford’s Sara Choy won a gritty three-set battle against Sara Ziodato 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to tie the match.

Navarro and Ma were tied 1-1 in the third set when the Choy/Ziodato match finished. It was tied 4-4 when Navarro broke Ma’s serve to take a 5-4 lead. Navarro served out the match to win 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-4 and seal the victory for the Cavaliers.

MATCH NOTES

• The match lasted four hours and four minutes
• Four of the six singles courts went to three sets
• Emma Navarro picked up her first top-10 victory of the season in her win against No. 9 Connie Ma
• The ITA National Team Indoor Championships are being held Feb. 11-14 in Madison, Wisc.
• For 120 Division I tennis teams, the Road to Indoors begins Friday as they take part in the 14th annual ITA Kickoff Weekend. Hosted by 15 men’s and women’s programs from around the country, 120 teams will be playing for a spot in the 2022 ITA National Team Indoor Championships
• Returning to the traditional 60 team format, the 15 host sites on both the men’s and women’s sides were determined by the 2021 year-end rankings, while the remaining teams selected their Kickoff Weekend site through the ITA Kickoff Weekend Draft

FROM HEAD COACH SARA O’LEARY
“I’m just so incredibly proud of our team. Stanford played a fantastic match and it was an absolute battle. There were multiple momentum switches and every player on our team stayed in the moment and embraced the adversity. This was the first time the entire match has come down to Emma and what a warrior. Ma played some very high level tennis but Emma had an answer and persevered. It came down to Emma but it was such a team effort all the way down the line and we couldn’t be prouder of this team.”

#9 Virginia 4, #16 Stanford 3

Singles competition

1. Emma Navarro (VA) def. Connie Ma (STAN) 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-4
2. Elaine Chervinsky (VA) def. Alexandra Yepifanova (STAN) 6-1, 3-6, 7-5
3. Natasha Subhash (VA) def. Angelica Blake (STAN) 7-6, 6-1
4. Sofia Munera (VA) def. Ana Geller (STAN) 6-2, 4-6, 6-1
5. Valencia Xu (STAN) def. Amber O’Dell (VA) 6-3, 6-2
6. Sara Choy (STAN) def. Sara Ziodato (VA) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4

Doubles competition

1. Angelica Blake/Connie Ma (STAN) def. Emma Navarro/Amber O’Dell (VA) 7-6
2. Elaine Chervinsky/Natasha Subhash (VA) def. Valencia Xu/Alexandra Yepifanova (STAN) 7-5
3. Ana Geller/Niluka Madurawe (STAN) def. Sofia Munera/Hibah Shaikh (VA) 7-5

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

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