Virginia Falls 4-1 to North Carolina in ACC Championship

CARY, N.C. – The Virginia women’s tennis team (22-4) suffered a 4-1 loss against North Carolina (22-3) in the final of the 2024 ACC Women’s Tennis Championship on Sunday (April 21) on the indoor courts at the Cary Tennis Park in Cary, N.C.

North Carolina won the doubles point and took a 3-0 lead in the match before grad student Natasha Subhash logged a victory on court three to make it 3-1. North Carolina clinched the victory with a win on court six.

North Carolina opened play by winning on all three doubles courts, with courts one and three finishing almost simultaneously.

Senior Hibah Shaikh showed early resilience for the Cavaliers, bouncing back from her doubles loss to take her first set 6-0 on court two against Elizabeth Scotty. Subhash and juniors Elaine Chervinsky and Mélodie Collard all won their first sets, giving the Cavaliers four of six first sets.

Scotty won her second two sets 6-1, 6-2 to put UNC up 2-0. The Tar Heels added a straight-set win on court four to make it 3-0.

Subhash dropped her second set 6-2 against Carson Tanguilig, but came back in the third set with a 6-3 win to get the Cavaliers on the scoreboard.

Just as Subhash tallied her victory, sophomore Annabelle Xu took her second set 7-5 against No. 7 Fiona Crawley to force a third set to keep the Cavaliers in the match.

Before Xu and Crawley could complete the first game of the third set, Tatum Evans finished off a 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 win on six to seal the victory.

FROM HEAD COACH SARA O’LEARY

“Congratulations to UNC. That was a great match. I thought they played really well. I thought they came out really strong and doubles. I’m just really proud of our group. They worked so hard  all weekend, and they gave us a chance to win this match today. And gave us a chance to win all those singles matches. I am just really proud of them. We’re going to learn from this and move forward.”

MATCH NOTES

• Virginia is ranked No. 4 in the latest ITA Rankings. North Carolina is No. 5
• UNA was the No. 1 seed. Virginia was the 2-seed
• Virginia and UNC were the ACC regular-season co-champions with 12-1 records in conference play
• This was Virginia’s fourth time playing in the ACC Championship match. UVA is 2-2 in the finals
• This was Virginia’s second time playing in the ACC final in three seasons, having also finished as the runner-up in 2022
• This was the third meeting of the year between Virginia and North Carolina. UVA won 4-0 in a back draw match at ITA Indoors on Feb. 11. North Carolina won 4-1 in the regular season meeting on April 5 in Chapel Hill
• The NCAA Championship bracket will be announced on Monday, April 29

#5 North Carolina 4, #4 Virginia 1
Singles competition

1. #7 Fiona Crawley (NC) vs. #61 Annabelle Xu (VA) 6-2, 5-7, unfinished
2. #36 Elizabeth Scotty (NC) def. #23 Hibah Shaikh (VA) 0-6, 6-1, 6-2
3. Natasha Subhash (VA) def. #50 Carson Tanguilig (NC) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3
4. #59 Reilly Tran (NC) def. #86 Sara Ziodato (VA) 6-4, 6-2
5. #27 Anika Yarlagadda (NC) vs. Elaine Chervinsky (VA) 2-6, 7-5, 2-2, unfinished
6. #75 Tatum Evans (NC) def. Melodie Collard (VA) 2-6, 6-2, 6-2

Doubles competition

1. Fiona Crawley/Carson Tanguilig (NC) def. Melodie Collard/Elaine Chervinsky (VA) 6-2
2. Elizabeth Scotty/Anika Yarlagadda (NC) def. Natasha Subhash/Hibah Shaikh (VA) 6-2
3. Abbey Forbes/Reilly Tran (NC) def. Sara Ziodato/Meggie Navarro (VA) 6-3

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