Photo courtesy of Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics Communications
UVA Women's Tennis Defeats Oklahoma State 4-1, Moves on to NCAA Quarterfinals
For the first time since 2016, the Virginia women's tennis team is moving on to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Women's Tennis Championship.
UVA (23-5) defeated Oklahoma State (20-6) 4-1 in the Super Regional round of 16 on Saturday afternoon at Boar's Head Sports Club.
In doubles play, Elaine Chervinsky and Natasha Subhash nearly swept the Oklahoma State duo of Mhai Sawangkaew and Martina Zerulo, winning 6-1 on court 2. Sofia Munera and Amber O'Dell defeated Oona Orpana and Dariya Detkovskaya 6-3 to clinch the doubles point for the Cavaliers. Emma Navarro and Hibah Shaikh, the No. 3 ranked doubles tandem in the tournament, were in the midst of a 3-4 fight with Oklahoma State's No. 12-ranked pairing of Lisa Marie Rioux and Ayumi Miyamoto when play was suspended.
In singles play, No. 1 Emma Navarro cruised past No. 20 Lisa Marie Rioux for a 6-1, 6-1 victory on the top court. The Cowboys got their only point of the match on court 4 with a 6-2, 6-0 win by Oona Orpana over Sofia Munera.
Sara Ziodato defeated Alana Wolfberg 6-3, 6-2 on court 6 to make it 3-1 in favor of the Cavaliers. Hibah Shaikh dropped the first set against Ayumi Miyamoto, but came back to win the match in three sets, 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 to clinch the victory for Virginia. Shaikh has secured the winning point for the Cavaliers in all three of their NCAA Tournament matches so far.
Virginia advances to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Women's Tennis Championship for the first time under head coach Sara O'Leary. This is the third time in Virginia tennis history that both the UVA men's and women's tennis teams have advanced to the quarterfinals.
Virginia will face No. 4 Texas (23-4) in the quarterfinals on Friday, May 20th at the Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex in Champaign, Illinois.
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