No. 5 Virginia Wins on Senior Day to Finish as Regular Season ACC Co-Champions

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 5 Virginia women’s tennis team (20-3, 12-1 ACC) closed out the regular season with a 4-2 victory against No. 23 Florida State (15-7, 9-4 ACC) on Sunday(April 14) at the Virginia Tennis Facility at the Boar’s Head Resort.

With the victory, the Cavaliers finish conference play with a 12-1 mark, tying for first place in the final standings with North Carolina. This is the second time in program history that the Cavaliers were the ACC Regular Season Co-Champions, joining the 2014 team.

Due to a head-to-head tiebreaker, UNC will be the No. 1 seed in the ACC Championship with UVA earning the No. 2 seed, but both share the regular-season title.

Grad student Natasha Subhash clinched Sunday’s victory for the Cavaliers. She was one of three players lauded before the match in the annual Senior Day celebration.

Subhash and senior Hibah Shaikh opened the match with a 6-3 win at No. 2 doubles. Juniors Elaine Chervinsky and Mélodie Collard clinched the point with a 7-5 victory on the top court.

Collard gave UVA a 2-0 lead with a 6-2, 6-0 win on singles court six.

Thirty minutes after Collard’s match was finished, Florida State won two matches back-to-back. Shaikh was edged in a tiebreaker to decide her second set against Ellie Schoppe to drop her match on court two right before senior Sara Ziodato was edged 6-3, 6-3 on court three, tying the match score 2-2.

Chervinsky battled Maelie Monfils on court five in a very close match where nearly every game was decided by a deuce point. Chervinsky pulled out the 7-5, 6-4 victory to put UVA ahead 3-2.

Subhash was also in a tight battle, facing Millie Bissett on court four. Subhash had taken the first set 6-4 and then pulled out a 6-4 win in the second set to clinch the victory.

Virginia opens play at the ACC Championships on Friday, April 19 in the quarterfinals. The play the 6 p.m. match against either 7-seed Notre Dame or 10-seed Syracuse at the Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C.

FROM HEAD COACH SARA O’LEARY

“I’m so incredibly proud of this team! Florida State is a very good team who competed well and really challenged us today. I loved the composure we showed in a very tight doubles point as well as the end of those singles matches. This team continues to step up and believe in themselves in big moments again and again. I want to thank our fans, support staff, coaches and so many more who helped us earn this championship, and congratulate Brian and the UNC team for their win today and share of the regular season title. The support of the UVA tennis community has been incredible all year long and I just want to say thank you!”

“I’m really happy we could get this win and championship for our three seniors. They are three amazing tennis players who have helped elevate our program and are even better people. They care so much about our culture, their teammates, their tennis, academics and this university. I’m incredibly grateful for the impact they have and continue to have on UVA and all of our lives.”

“It’s time to rest, recover and get ready for the ACC tournament!”

MATCH NOTES

• This was Virginia’s seventh top-25 victory of the season
• Virginia improved to 12-0 at home this season
• The Cavaliers matched the program record for ACC victories in a season (12, set in 2014) and set the mark for fewest conference losses (1). The 2014 team lost twice, posting a 12-2 mark
• Virginia has set the program records this season for consecutive wins (10), consecutive ACC wins (9) and best start in conference play (9-0)
• In 2014, four teams tied for first with identical 12-2 records. UVA, the 3-seed, went on to win the first of its ACC tournament titles that season
• Natasha Subhash, Hibah Shaikh and Sara Ziodato were all recognized before the match in the Senior Day ceremony
• Mélodie Collard went 10-1 in singles in conference matches
• Shaikh and Subhash went 10-2 in doubles in conference matches

#5 Virginia 4, #23 Florida State 2
Singles competition

1. #95 Annabelle Xu (VA) vs. #29 Vic Allen (FSU) 6-4, 5-6, unfinished
2. #41 Ellie Schoppe (FSU) def. #25 Hibah Shaikh (VA) 6-0, 7-6 (3)
3. #124 Anna Arkadianou (FSU) def. #76 Sara Ziodato (VA) 6-3, 6-3
4. Natasha Subhash (VA) def. Millie Bissett (FSU) 6-4, 6-4
5. #99 Elaine Chervinsky (VA) def. Maelie Monfils (FSU) 7-5, 6-4
6. Melodie Collard (VA) def. Cade Cricchio (FSU) 6-2, 6-0

Doubles competition

1. #16 Elaine Chervinsky/Melodie Collard (VA) def. #30 Vic Allen/Millie Bissett (FSU) 7-5
2. #39 Natasha Subhash/Hibah Shaikh (VA) def. Ellie Schoppe/Anna Arkadianou (FSU) 6-3
3. Sara Ziodato/Meggie Navarro (VA) vs. Cade Cricchio/Laura Putz (FSU) 5-5, unfinished

Order of finish: Doubles (2,1); Singles (6,2,3,5,4)
T-2:46 A-263