By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — For the University of Virginia tennis programs, the weekend couldn’t have gone much better at the Boar’s Head Resort.
At the Virginia Tennis Facility, the fourth-seeded UVA men’s team defeated Rider 4-0 on Friday and Columbia 4-2 on Saturday to advance to the NCAA tournament’s round of 16.
The seventh-seeded Cavalier women are headed to the Sweet Sixteen too. Virginia blanked Saint Francis 4-0 on Saturday and then, with the men’s team providing vocal support from the stands, eliminated Washington by the same score Sunday.
Both teams will host NCAA super regionals next weekend. The Cavalier men will meet No. 13 seed South Carolina at 5 p.m. Friday. The women will take on No. 10 seed LSU on Saturday at a time to be announced.
For the Virginia women (23-5), this will be their sixth straight appearance in the Sweet Sixteen. Melodie Collard, one of the Wahoos’ captains, has been in the program the longest of any player on the team. A fifth-year senior from Gatineau, Canada, Collard teamed with junior Vivian Yang on a 6-2 win at No. 1 doubles Sunday and later won in straight sets at No. 5 singles.
“She’s won a lot of matches for us this year,” head coach Sara O’Leary said of Collard, “but there’s just so much more that she's contributed to this team. Just the example that she's set for all of the younger girls. She always does the right thing. She's always coming in for extra [work]. She's probably the fittest person on our team. And she speaks up. She speaks up in meetings, and she sees the best in everybody around her. They can all feel how much she believes in them, and that makes a big difference. She’s meant so much.”
Collard has experienced a lot during her college career, and she tries to share what she’s learned with her teammates. She wants them to stay positive, and “I try to lift them up,” Collard said.
“I try to remind them every day that they deserve to be on this team, that I'm proud to have them as teammates, and just really raise them up. I think that's my biggest role as a captain, just remind them that they're really, really good.”
How 'bout them Hoos 🤩🍿 pic.twitter.com/3rW1z22DSU
— Virginia Women's Tennis (@UVAWomensTennis) May 3, 2026
Last month, UVA won the ACC regular-season title outright for the first time in the program history. There’s ample talent on the roster, but what makes this team special, Collard said, is that “we’re just really, really close. I think we have a great chemistry. Everyone on this team really loves each other a lot, and we just do everything together.”
The first four UVA teams on which she played were also close-knit, Collard said, but this one is “even more. And when we're on the court, you can really see it, you can really feel it, you really play for each other.”
O’Leary pointed to the team’s unity, too.
“When they're out here playing, next to each other, you feel how connected they are,” she said. “You feel how much they support each other. You feel how much they believe in each other. And I think that's why it wasn't a surprise seeing them all finish [around] the same time.”
After UVA won the doubles point against Washington, the score remained 1-0 for about 75 minutes. Then sophomore Martina Genis Salas won at No. 6 singles to make it 2-0.
Two minutes later, Collard’s win at No. 5 pushed Virginia’s lead to 3-0, and two minutes after that, sophomore Isabelle Lacy capped her straight-sets victory at No. 4 with an ace that clinched the match for the Hoos.
“You kind of feel the momentum coming,” Lacy said. “Playing next to [Collard and Genis Salas], they have so much energy, and it's just super cool. You can kind of feel the noise increasing and everybody getting more excited.”