UVA Women's Tennis Takes Down No. 10 Duke in 4-3 Thriller

The Cavaliers took down the Blue Devils on Sunday to earn their first ACC win of the season

Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

After opening ACC play with a tough 4-1 loss to No. 1 North Carolina on Friday, the No. 20 Virginia women's tennis team bounced back in a big way, taking down No. 10 Duke in a 4-3 thriller on Sunday afternoon at Boar's Head Sports Club. 

Elaine Chervinsky and Natasha Subhash got Virginia off to a good start in doubles action with a 6-2 win on court 2, but Duke battled back as the team of Iuliia Bryzgalova and Georgia Drummy defeated Hibah Shaikh and Sara Ziodato 6-2 on court 3. On the top court, UVA's Julia Adams and Melodie Collard earned a 6-4 victory over Duke's Chloe Beck and Cameron Morra to clinch the doubles point for the Cavaliers. 

Duke tied things up on the top court as Chloe Beck defeated Julia Adams 6-2, 6-1. The Blue Devils then took the lead as Elaine Chervinsky fell to Duke's Emma Jackson 6-4, 6-4 on court 3. UVA pulled back even with a 6-1, 6-4 win by Natasha Subhash over Cameron Morra on court 2. 

The Cavaliers regained the lead on court 5, with Hibah Shaikh picking up a critical 7-6 (6-2), 6-3 win over Iuliia Bryzgalova. Court 6 went to a third set, with Duke's Brianna Shvets defeating UVA's Melodie Collard 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 tying the overall match score at 3-3 with just one match left in action. 

A few moments later, Virginia's Sara Ziodato finished off a hard-fought match against Duke's Ellie Coleman, winning 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 to clinch the match for the Cavaliers. 

It took everything the Wahoos had to win this one, but it was one they absolutely needed to win. Coming into this matchup, Virginia had lost three of the last four matches, including a 1-2 showing at ITA Indoors in Seattle before Friday's loss to No. 1 North Carolina. 

Now 7-3 overall and 1-1 in ACC play, UVA will look to build some momentum off of this big win as the ACC schedule continues. Up next, the Cavaliers have a pair of road ACC matches up north next weekend, playing at Syracuse on Friday and at Boston College on Sunday. 

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