No. 5 Virginia Wins Commonwealth Clash Match 6-1
BLACKSBURG, Va. – The No. 5 Virginia women’s tennis team (13-2, 5-0 ACC) won 6-1 at Virginia Tech (6-6, 1-4 ACC) on Thursday (March 14) at the Burrows-Burleson Tennis Center in Blacksburg, Va.
The Cavaliers won the doubles point and four singles matches in straight sets to jump out to a 5-0 lead. They added a sixth point with a three-set win on court six before the Hokies won a tiebreaker to decide the third set on court three to tally a point.
The Cavaliers won the doubles point with 6-3 victories on courts one and three.
In singles, Virginia had four matches finish in rapid succession. Senior Sara Ziodato started the sequence with a 6-4, 6-0 win on court four. Senior Hibah Shaikh followed with a 6-2, 7-5 win on one. Sophomore Annabelle Xu clinched the match with a 6-3, 6-2 win on two. Junior Elaine Chervinsky added a fifth point two minutes later with a 6-2, 6-3 victory at five.
Junior Mélodie Collard rebounded from a 6-2 loss in her first set against Laima Frosch on court six to win the final two 6-3, 7-5.
The final court was knotted 6-6 in the final set with the Hokies Semra Asku winning the tiebreaker 8-6 against Natasha Subhash to close the match and earn her team a point.
The match is part of the Smithfield Commonwealth Clash, a contest between Virginia and Virginia Tech in all school-sponsored sports with 21 individual event points on the line. With today’s win, Virginia expands its lead to 8-6 in this year’s Clash.
MATCH NOTES
- Virginia has won the last 28 meetings between the two schools. Virginia Tech’s last win against the Cavaliers came in 1998
ON THE HORIZON
- This is the lone match of the week for the Cavaliers and their only match in a two-week span, as they had a bye last week
- Virginia returns home to host Syracuse on Friday, March 22 at 4 p.m.
- The Syracuse match will be UVA’s first home contest since ITA Kickoff Weekend (Jan. 27 vs. Georgia Tech)
#5 Virginia 6, Virginia Tech 1
Singles competition
- #22 Hibah Shaikh (VA) def. Katie Andreini (VT) 6-2, 7-5
- Annabelle Xu (VA) def. Ozlem Uslu (VT) 6-3, 6-2
- Semra Aksu (VT) def. Natasha Subhash (VA) 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (8-6)
- #53 Sara Ziodato (VA) def. Tamara Barad Itzhaki (VT) 6-4, 6-0
- #76 Elaine Chervinsky (VA) def. Dariya Radulova (VT) 6-2, 6-3
- #115 Melodie Collard (VA) def. Laima Frosch (VT) 2-6, 6-3, 7-5
Doubles competition
- #24 Natasha Subhash/Hibah Shaikh (VA) def. Katie Andreini/Dariya Radulova (VT) 6-3
- Semra Aksu/Erika Cheng (VT) vs. Sara Ziodato/Annabelle Xu (VA) 5-5, unfinished
- Melodie Collard/Meggie Navarro (VA) def. Charlotte Cartledge/Ozlem Uslu (VT) 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (3,1); Singles (4,1,2,5,6,3)