Chervinsky and Collard Win NCAA Doubles Title

WACO, TEXAS – Virginia women’s tennis seniors Elaine Chervinsky and Mélodie Collard won the 2024-25 NCAA Doubles Championship on Sunday (Nov. 24) at the Hurd Tennis Center in Waco, Texas.

Chervinsky and Collard defeated UCLA’s all-freshman team of Olivia Center and Kate Fakih 4-6, 6-3, 10-5 in the final to win the first NCAA Doubles title in program history.

In the first year that the NCAA Individual championships have been contested in the fall instead of after the team championship in the spring, the Virginia tandem won all five of their matches in the tournament in third-set 10-point super tiebreakers.

The UVA duo opened the 32-team draw with a 7-5, 2-6, 10-7 against No. 17  Reece Carter and Alexia Jacobs of Washington. After logging a 6-2, 4-6, 10-7 against Georgia’s Guillermina Grant and Aysegul Mert, they defeated 5-8 seed Carson Tanguilig and Susanna Maltby of UNC to advance to the semifinals.

In Saturday’s semifinals against Rachel Gailis and Alicia Dudeney of Florida, Chervinsky and Collard dropped the first set then battled back with a 6-3 win in the second set to force the tiebreaker. The Cavaliers fell behind 5-0 in the breaker before roaring back to take an 8-7 lead. Gailis and Dudeney tied it at eight-all before Chervinsky and Collard took the final two points to win the match and clinch a spot in the final.

In Sunday’s final, Collard and Chervinsky went down an early break in the first set, but broke back to go back on serve at 4-5, but then Center and Fakih broke back to take the first set 6-4. Chervinsky and Collard took the second set 6-3 to force the decider. Virginia had the early momentum, going up 4-0 in the breaker, but UCLA won two points ahead of the changeover to make it 4-2. UCLA staved off one match point at 9-4, but double-faulted on the second match point, ending the match.

“We’ve worked so hard for this,” Chervinsky said. “We’ve had such an amazing week and such a fun week that I think I need some time to let it sink in. But the fact that we earned this as a team just makes it so much better. So much sweeter. And it’s a full team effort. It wasn’t just us on the court. It was our coach, Pichi [Gina Suarez-Malaguti]. It was Coach Sara [O’Leary]. Carlos [Benatzky]. Everyone out there. Our teammates in the stands, and my father in the stands. So it’s a huge team effort. Our teammates and all of our supporters keep texting us after every match. It’s just so amazing to feel that no matter what have happened today, we would have been still supported by everyone. So, we were so we’re so happy that we can bring this home.”

Collard and Chervinsky were ranked No. 3 in the preseason doubles rankings but were not seeded in the tournament. Center and Faikh were a 5-8 seed.

Collard and Chervinsky are the first UVA team to ever advance to the NCAA Doubles final. Collard advanced to the semifinals in 2023 with her partner Julia Adams. Chervinsky and Collard fell in the opening round in last season’s championship.

“I’m still shocked by it,” Collard said.”I knew we were a really strong team. We’ve showed a lot during the last season, so I really believed in our chance, but as I keep saying, doubles is up to nothing. Even though I had so much trust in us, and I knew that if we played our best in this, our chances of winning were there. But just because, sometimes everything’s there, but still doesn’t happen. Everything needs to come in place, with a little bit of luck. Everything needs to happen. I’m just really, really happy, but for sure it’s not something that I was like ‘Oh yeah, yeah, we got it.’  I’m really proud of this.”

This is the fourth individual championship in program history alongside NCAA Singles titles from Danielle Collins (2014 and 2016) and Emma Navarro (2021). It is the 88th individual NCAA title for UVA across all sports.

Chervinsky also made a deep run in the singles championship, advancing to the quarterfinals after stunning the tournament’s top seed, Mary Stoiana of Texas A&M 6-3, 6-0 in the Round of 16. She also defeated 9-16 seed Alexis Blokhina of Stanford in the Round of 32. With her quarterfinal finish, she will earn ITA Singles All-America honors at the end of the season.

Virginia  had a program-record five players competing in the individual championships. Junior Annabelle Xu advanced to the second round of both the singles and doubles draws, playing alongside freshman Martina Genis Salas in the latter. Grad student Sara Ziodato also competed in singles, falling in the first round.

Players had to qualify for the NCAA Individual Championships through qualifying tournaments throughout the fall, including the ITA All-American Championships, the ITA Regional Championships and the ITA Sectionals. Chervinsky and Collard earned their berth in the doubles draw by winning the ITA Atlantic Regional in Charlottesville in October.

RESULTS/SCHEDULE

Doubles
R32: #3 Melodie Collard/Elaine Chervinsky (VA) def. #17 Reece Carter/Alexia Jacobs (WASH) 7-5, 2-6, 1-0 (7)
R32: #30 Martina Genis Salas/Annabelle Xu (VA) def. [3] Avelina Sayfetdinova/Mariia Hlahola (TT) 6-4, 6-0
R16: #3 Melodie Collard/Elaine Chervinsky (VA) def. Guillermina Grant/Aysegul Mert (UGA) 6-2, 4-6, 1-0 (7)
R16: #18 Ava Hrastar/DJ Bennett (AU) def. #30 Martina Genis Salas/Annabelle Xu (VA) 7-6 (5), 6-4
QF: #3 Melodie Collard/Elaine Chervinsky (VA) def. [5-8] Carson Tanguilig/Susanna Maltby (UNC) 6-0, 0-6, 1-0 (7)
SF: #3 Melodie Collard/Elaine Chervinsky (VA) def. Rachel Gailis/Alicia Dudeney (UF) 1-6, 6-3, 1-0 (8)
F: #3 Melodie Collard/Elaine Chervinsky (VA) def.  [5-8] Olivia Center/Kate Fakih (UCLA) 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 (5)

Singles
R64: #74 Elaine Chervinsky (VA) def. [9-16] #52 Emilija Tverijonaite (ASU) 7-5, 6-2
R64: 45 Lily Jones (MICH) def. #48 Sara Ziodato (VA) 6-4, 6-4
R64: #21 Annabelle Xu (VA) def. #97 Elise Wagle (UCLA) 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-1
R32: #74 Elaine Chervinsky (VA) def. [9-16] #64 Alexis Blokhina (STAN) 6-3, 7-5
R32: [9-16] #8 Savannah Broadus (PD), def. #21 Annabelle Xu (VA) 6-0, 6-3
R16: #74 Elaine Chervinsky (VA) def. [1] #1 Mary Stoiana (TAMU) 6-3, 6-0
QF: #32 DJ Bennett (AU) def. #74 Elaine Chervinsky (VA) 7-5, 5-7, 6-0