Women’s Tennis: No. 8 Virginia closes regular season with 5-2 win at Georgia Tech

Courtesy UVA Media Relations

The No. 8 Virginia women’s tennis team (18-4, 10-3 ACC) closed out the regular season with a 5-2 win at Georgia Tech on Sunday at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex in Atlanta, Ga.

The Cavaliers finished conference play with a 10-3 record in a three-way tie for third place with Miami and NC State. By virtue of tiebreakers, Miami will be the three seed, Virginia the four and NC State the five in next week’s Atlantic Coast Conference Women’s Tennis Championship.

Georgia Tech opened the match with a win on doubles court three. Emma Navarro and Hibah Shaikh evened it with a 6-2 win on court one against the fifth-ranked doubles team of Carol Lee and Kate Sharabura. With the doubles point on the line, Sofia Munera and Natasha Subhash battled back from trailing 6-2 in a tiebreaker to win it 10-8 and secure the point for the Cavaliers.

Sara Ziodato gave UVA a 2-0 lead with a 6-2, 6-1 win on court six, but the Yellow Jackets took courts three and four in straight sets to tie the match. Navarro gave UVA a 3-2 edge with a 6-4, 6-3 win against Lee.

The final two courts were three-set battles. Subhash rebounded from dropping her first set 6-2 against Kylie Bilchev with a 6-4 win in the second set. She took the third set 6-2 to clinch the victory for the Cavaliers. Hibah Shaikh and Gia Cohen traded 6-3 wins to go to a third set. Shaikh broken Cohen’s serve at 6-5 to win 7-5 to close out the match.

MATCH NOTES

• The Cavaliers have won seven straight matches heading into the ACC Championship

FROM HEAD COACH SARA O’LEARY

“Today was a battle. Credit to Georgia Tech. They played and competed well. I think the doubles point was a big difference-maker today. Sofia and Natasha were down 2-6 in the deciding match tiebreaker. Sofia made one of the best gets I’ve ever seen on one of those match points and our entire team played with such determination, toughness and belief after that. There were a lot of momentum switches within the entire match but I loved the composure and focus everyone played with no matter what the situation was. I’m super proud of our team!”

ON THE HORIZON

• Virginia will be the No. 4 seed in the ACC Championship, earning a double-bye into Friday’s quarterfinals
• Virginia will play at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, April 22 against a team TBD

#8 Virginia 5, #31 Georgia Tech 2

Singles competition

1. #1 Emma Navarro (VA) def. #32 Carol Lee (GT) 6-4, 6-3
2. #34 Natasha Subhash (VA) def. #79 Kylie Bilchev (GT) 2-6, 6-4, 6-2
3. Ava Hrastar (GT) def. #62 Elaine Chervinsky (VA) 6-3, 6-2
4. Mahak Jain (GT) def. Sofia Munera (VA) 6-0, 7-6 (7-3)
5. Hibah Shaikh (VA) def. Gia Cohen (GT) 6-3, 3-6, 7-5
6. Sara Ziodato (VA) def. Rosie Garcia Gross (GT) 6-2, 6-1

Doubles competition

1. #11 Emma Navarro/Hibah Shaikh (VA) def. #5 Carol Lee/Kate Sharabura (GT) 6-2
2. Sofia Munera/Natasha Subhash (VA) def. #34 Kylie Bilchev/Ava Hrastar (GT) 7-6 (10-8)
3. Gia Cohen/Ruth Marsh (GT) def. Amber O’Dell/Elaine Chervinsky (VA) 6-2

Order of finish: Doubles (3,1,2); Singles (6,3,4,1,2,5)