Women’s Tennis: No. 7 Michigan hands No. 5 UVA first loss of season, 4-2

Photo by Nikolozi Khutsishvili

The No. 5 Virginia women’s tennis team suffered their first loss of the season to No. 7 Michigan, 4-2, on Saturday at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.

Graduate student Sara Ziodato and junior Meggie Navarro started the match strong for Virginia, winning 6-0 on doubles court three. Junior Annabelle Xu and freshman Martina Genis Salas gave the Cavaliers (6-1) the early lead, winning 7-5 on court two and clinching the doubles point.

Michigan (3-0) took the lead with two straight-set wins within moments of each other on courts five and two.

Ziodato tied the match back up for Virginia, delivering a dominant 6-4, 6-1 win on court three.

The Wolverines took the lead again, winning 6-3, 6-3 on court six to pull ahead 3-2 in the match.

On court four, freshman Isabelle Lacy dropped the first set but won seven games in a row to force a decider against Emily Sartz-Lunde and take an early lead in the third. Sartz-Lunde responded with a break at 1-1 and added an insurance break later in the set, pulling away to win 6-2, 0-6, 6-2 to clinch the win for the Wolverines (3-0).

ADDITIONAL NOTES

• Ziodato picked up the highest ranked win of her career, topping No. 40 Lily Jones
• Ziodato improves to 6-0 in singles in dual match play to open the season
• The Cavaliers dropped their fifth straight match to Michigan

UP NEXT

The Cavaliers will head to Evanston, Ill., for the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, being held Feb. 7-11. The draw will be announced on Tuesday at noon ET.

MICHIGAN 4, VIRGINIA 2

Singles
1. #34 Elaine Chervinsky (VA) vs. #18 Piper Charney (MICH) 7-6 (11-9), 3-5, unfinished
2. #5 Julia Fliegner (MICH) def. Karolina Kozakova (VA) 6-0, 6-0
3. #51 Sara Ziodato (VA) def. #40 Lily Jones (MICH) 6-4, 6-1
4. Emily Sartz-Lunde (MICH) def. Isabelle Lacy (VA) 6-2, 0-6, 6-2
5. Reese Miller (MICH) def. #59 Melodie Collard (VA) 6-0, 6-1
6. Jessica Bernales (MICH) def. #94 Martina Genis Salas (VA) 6-3, 6-3

Doubles
1. #2 Elaine Chervinsky/Melodie Collard (VA) vs. Jessica Bernales/Piper Charney (MICH) 5-6, unfinished
2. #27 Annabelle Xu/Martina Genis Salas (VA) def. #49 Reese Miller/Julia Fliegner (MICH) 7-5
3. #55 Sara Ziodato/Meggie Navarro (VA) def. Emily Sartz-Lunde/Lily Jones (MICH) 6-0
Order of finish: Doubles (3,2); Singles (2,5,3,6,4)