No. 9 Virginia Downs No. 6 North Carolina 4-3
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 9 Virginia women’s tennis team won 4-3 against No. 6 North Carolina in dramatic fashion on Monday (Jan. 20) in a non-conference contest at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.
Senior Melodie Collard won the deciding point for the Cavaliers (4-0), breaking a 3-3 tie in the match to defeat the Tar Heels (3-1).
Collard and senior Elaine Chervinsky opened the match with a 6-1 win over the top ranked doubles team in the ITA rankings Susanna Maltby and Carson Tanguilig, but North Carolina won on doubles courts two and three to take the doubles point.
Chervinsky tied the match at one with a dominant 6-1, 6-0 win over No. 20 Tanguilig on court two.
Virginia took the lead on a 6-1, 6-2 win from graduate student Sara Ziodato over Alanis Hamilton on court four. On the top court, junior Annabelle Xu extended the UVA lead to 3-1 with a 6-3, 6-3 win against Reese Brantmeier.
The Tar Heels cut into the Virginia lead with a 6-3, 6-1 win on court five. Shortly after, North Carolina tied the match at three with a 7-6 (6), 6-3 win on court three.
The match came down to court six. Melodie Collard trailed 7-5, 4-1 against Claire Hill but battled back, saving a match point to force a second set tiebreaker. Collard went on to win the tiebreaker 7-4, forcing a deciding set against Hill.
In the third, Collard fell behind 3-0 but once again rallied back to even the set at 4-4. After holding serve to take a 5-4 lead, Collard broke serve to win the decider 6-4, taking the match and giving the Cavaliers the victory.
FROM HEAD COACH SARA O’LEARY
“I am proud of the resilience that we showed after losing a tough doubles point. I don’t think we played our best in doubles but we came back out and had a really strong start in singles. Credit to Carolina. They’re a team that battles and they came back and in some of those matches. I think we just held it together. Melo just was such a great example of what we want this team to be. She was organized. She was resilient. She was gritty. And just a killer out there every single point in that third set. She just made the other player earn it. [Her opponent] was playing really, really well. So, I’m just really proud of the composure that we showed, the resilience that we showed, and the toughness.”
NEXT UP
- The Cavaliers will be hosting ITA Kickoff Weekend matches on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 24-25
- New Mexico, No. 11 Duke, and No. 20 South Carolina will play in the Charlottesville Regional with one spot in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships on the line
- Virginia hosts New Mexico on Friday (Jan. 24) at 1 p.m., with the Blue Devils and Gamecocks playing at 4 p.m.
- The two winners will play on Saturday (Jan. 25) at 3:30 p.m. The consolation will be played at 6:30 p.m.
#9 Virginia 4, #6 North Carolina 3
Singles competition
- #32 Annabelle Xu (VA) def. Reese Brantmeier (UNC) 6-3, 6-3
- #34 Elaine Chervinsky (VA) def. #20 Carson Tanguilig (UNC) 6-1, 6-0
- #9 Theadora Rabman (UNC) def. Karolina Kozakova (VA) 7-6 (8-6), 6-3
- #51 Sara Ziodato (VA) def. Alanis Hamilton (UNC) 6-2, 6-1
- #23 Tatum Evans (UNC) def. #94 Martina Genis Salas (VA) 6-3, 6-1
- Melodie Collard (VA) def. Claire Hill (UNC) 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4
Doubles competition
- #2 Elaine Chervinsky/Melodie Collard (VA) def. #1 Susanna Maltby/Carson Tanguilig (UNC) 6-1
- Reese Brantmeier/Alanis Hamilton (UNC) def. #27 Annabelle Xu/Martina Genis Salas (VA) 6-4
- #20 Tatum Evans/Theadora Rabman (UNC) def. Sara Ziodato/Karolina Kozakova (VA) 6-3
Order of finish: Doubles (1,3,2); Singles (2,4,1,5,3,6)
T-3:17 A-256