No. 6 Virginia Tops No. 10 NC State 5-2

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. –  The No. 6 Virginia women’s tennis team (16-2, 8-0 ACC) picked up a 5-2 victory against No. 10 NC State (15-6, 5-3 ACC) on Thursday (March 28) at the Virginia Tennis Facility at the Boar’s Head Resort.

The Wolfpack won the doubles point, but the Cavaliers took the first five singles matches to secure the victory. Senior Hibah Shaikh clinched the win with a victory against No. 5 Amelia Rajecki on the top singles court.

With the victory, the Cavaliers improve to 8-0 in ACC play, their best start in program history.

The match was tight from the start, with the two teams battling for the doubles point for over an hour. Virginia had the early edge when juniors Mélodie Collard and Elaine Chervinsky won 6-0 against No. 13 Maddy Zampardo and Rajecki on the top court, but NC State took court three 6-3 to even it. Court two went to a tiebreaker, with Sophie Abrams and Anna Zyryanova taking it 7-4 to clinch the point for the Wolfpack.

In singles, Collard evened the match with a 6-3, 6-3 win against Gabriella Broadfoot at six. Senior Sara Ziodato put UVA up 2-1 with a 6-4, 6-2 win against Abrams on court three. Sophomore Annabelle Xu made it 3-1 with a 6-2, 7-5 win against Zyryanova on two.

The other three courts all went to three sets.

Shaikh had dropped her first set 6-3 against Rajecki but won the second 6-3. The final set was knotted 6-6, with Shaikh taking the breaker 8-6 to secure the victory for the Cavaliers.

Grad student Natasha Subhash made it 5-1 with a win on court four. Subhash was edged in a tiebreaker, 7-4, in her first set against Gina Dittmann, but won the second two sets 6-3, 6-3.

Maddy Zamparado of NC State won a tiebreaker 9-7 to decide the third set on court five to give NC State its second point.

FROM HEAD COACH SARA O’LEARY

“Tonight was a great match between two top-10 teams. We had an awesome crowd out there supporting us and I just want to thank everyone who came out! I’m proud of the response our team showed after losing a very close doubles point. This team stayed so present throughout each singles match and chose to trust in themselves and their games and they earned that win tonight.”

MATCH NOTES

• This is Virginia’s third win this season against an opponent ranked in the top 10
• No. 5 Amelia Rajecki is the highest-ranked singles opponent that Hibah Shaikh has defeated in her career, and is her third top-10 win this season
• Mélodie Collard has won her last nine completed singles matches, the longest active win streak on the team
• NC State won the 2023 ACC Championship and were the runners-up for the 2023 NCAA Championship

ON THE HORIZON

• Virginia closes out the weekend by hosting No. 33 Wake Forest on Saturday, March 30 at 1 p.m.

#6 Virginia 5, #10 NC State Wolfpack 2
Singles competition

1. #25 Hibah Shaikh (VA) def. #5 Amelia Rajecki (ST) 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (6)
2. Annabelle Xu (VA) def. #43 Anna Zyryanova (ST) 6-2, 7-5
3. #60 Sara Ziodato (VA) def. #110 Sophie Abrams (ST) 6-4, 6-2
4. Natasha Subhash (VA) def. Gina Dittmann (ST) 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-3
5. Maddy Zampardo (ST) def. #76 Elaine Chervinsky (VA) 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7)
6. Melodie Collard (VA) def. Gabriella Broadfoot (ST) 6-3, 6-3

Doubles competition

1. #14 Melodie Collard/Elaine Chervinsky (VA) def. #13 Amelia Rajecki/Maddy Zampardo (ST) 6-0
2. #10 Sophie Abrams/Anna Zyryanova (ST) def. #27 Hibah Shaikh/Natasha Subhash (VA) 7-6 (4)
3. Gabriella Broadfoot/Gina Dittmann (ST) def. Annabelle Xu/Sara Ziodato (VA) 6-3

Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (6,3,2,1,4,5)
T-3:38 A-131