Emma Navarro, Virginia Cavaliers women's tennis — Photo courtesy of Olivia Taylor/Virginia Athletics Communications

No. 8 UVA Women's Tennis Beats Georgia Tech 5-2 in Season Finale

The Cavaliers took down the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta on Sunday in the regular season finale

Author:
Matt Newton
Publish date:
Apr 18, 2022 1:14 AM EDT

No. 8 Virginia women's tennis wrapped up the 2022 regular season with a road match at Georgia Tech on Sunday afternoon. The Yellow Jackets, ranked No. 31 in the country, challenged the Cavaliers on several courts in both singles and doubles play, but UVA ultimately prevailed with a 5-2 victory in Atlanta.

Georgia Tech's Gia Cohen and Ruth Marsh started off the match with a 6-2 victory over Amber O'Dell and Elaine Chervinsky to give the Yellow Jackets an opportunity to steal the doubles point, but Virginia rallied in the other two matches. In a heavyweight matchup on court 1, Emma Navarro and Hibah Shaikh, the No. 11-ranked doubles pairing in the country, defeated the No. 5-ranked duo of Carol Lee and Kate Sharabura 6-2. Sofia Munera and Natasha Subhash won a 10-8 tiebreaker to pick up a hard-fought 7-6 victory against Kylie Bilchev and Ava Hrastar to clinch the doubles point.

Sara Ziodato gave UVA a 2-0 lead on court 6 with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Rosie Garcia Gross, but Georgia Tech responded by taking the next two matches. Ava Hrastar defeated Elaine Chervinsky 6-3, 6-2 and Mahak Jain got the best of Sofia Munera 6-0, 7-6 to tie the match at two points apiece.

No. 1 Emma Navarro put the Cavaliers back in front by winning a 6-4, 6-3 battle against No. 32 Carol Lee. After dropping her first set against Kylie Bilchev 2-6, Natasha Subhash clinched the victory for the Wahoos by winning the next two sets 6-4 and 6-2. Hibah Shaikh concluded the match with a three-set victory over Gia Cohen, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5.

Virginia, winners of seven straight matches to end the regular season, enters the postseason with an 18-4 overall record and a 10-3 mark in ACC play. The Cavaliers are the No. 4 seed in the ACC Championships, which will take place this week at the Rome Tennis Center in Rome, Georgia. UVA has a double-bye into the quarterfinals on Friday and will face the winner of No. 5 seed NC State and either No. 12 Clemson/No. 13 Virginia Tech.

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