Elaine Chervinsky, Virginia Cavaliers women's tennis — Photo courtesy of Virginia Athletics Communciations

No. 7 UVA Women's Tennis Beats No. 18 UCF

The Cavaliers remained unbeaten on the season with a 5-2 victory over the Knights on Friday

Author:
Matt Newton
Publish date:
Feb 5, 2022 2:27 AM EST

For the second match in a row, the No. 7 UVA women's tennis team faced and defeated a ranked opponent. The Cavaliers took down No. 18 UCF 5-2 on Friday at Boar's Head Sports Club.

In doubles competition, Elaine Chervinsky and Natasha Subhash won their match 6-2 to put UVA ahead, but Amber O'Dell and Sara Ziodato fell to Noel Saidenova and Nandini Sharma 6-3 to tie things up. Sofia Munera and Hibah Shaikh defeated Marie Mattel and Nadja Bay Christians 6-4 in the deciding third match to claim the doubles point for Virginia.

The Cavaliers then won three straight singles matches to clinch the victory. No. 90 Elaine Chervinsky set the tone in singles play with an impressive straight-set win over No. 64 Valeriya Zeleva in a 6-2, 6-1 upset. Sara Ziodato defeated Sophia Biolay 6-3, 6-3 and Hibah Shaikh sealed the win for UVA with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Nandini Sharma.

Virginia and UCF continued play after the match was clinched. Sofia Munera fell to Noel Saidenova, retiring in the third set after splitting the first two sets 4-6, 6-4. The final two singles matches still in contention played super tiebreakers in their third sets rather than full sets. No. 102 Marie Mattel defeated Amber O'Dell 2-6, 7-5, 13-11. No. 26 Natasha Subhash defeated No. 37 Evgeniya Levashova 6-3, 7-6 (6-8), 12-10.

With the 5-2 win, Virginia moves to 6-0 on the season. Up next, the Cavaliers will compete in the ITA National Team Indoor Championships (Feb. 11-14) as part of a 16-team tournament at the Nielsen Tennis Center in Madison, Wisconsin.

Virginia was without sophomore Emma Navarro in this match, as she is participating in the Rome Tennis Open, an ITF World Tennis Tour 60k tournament in Rome, Georgia.

Navarro has put together a brilliant run, which included a 6-3, 6-1 victory over the No. 2 seed in the event, Olga Govortsova (Belarus), and has advanced to the semifinals of the singles tournament. Navarro will face Germany's Tatjana Maria in the semifinals.

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