Women’s tennis: No. 7 Virginia defeats No. 9 Texas A&M 4-1

The No. 7 Virginia (4-1) women’s tennis team advanced at the ITA National Team Indoors on Friday (Feb. 5) as the Cavaliers picked up a 4-1 win over No. 9 Texas A&M (3-2).

Virginia will now face No. 6 California on Saturday at the prestigious event hosted by the University of Wisconsin.

The Cavaliers claimed the early lead by securing the doubles point with a win on court two. Virginia and Texas A&M split matches with the duo of Danielle Collins (St. Petersburg, Fla.) and Meghan Kelley (Falmouth, Me.) winning 6-3 on court one. The team of Victoria Olivarez (Virginia Beach, Va.) and Taylor Wingo (Newport News, Va.) fell on court three.

Virginia got a big rally on court two from the pairing of Julia Elbaba (Oyster Bay, N.Y.) and Stephanie Nauta (Galveston, Texas) grabbing a 7-5 win. Trailing 5-4, the Cavalier seniors won three straight games to give Virginia the doubles point.

The Cavaliers continued to build the lead in singles play with Elbaba, who is ranked No. 8 nationally in singles, picking up a 6-2, 6-4 win over No. 58 Rachel Pierson.

Texas A&M got on the board with a 6-3, 6-3 win on court four as Eve Paalma defeated Olivarez to give the Aggies the only point of the match.

Nauta, ranked No. 30 in singles, grabbed a 6-4, 6-1 win over No. 106 Rutuja Bhosale on court three before Kelley would close things out with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Domenica Gonzalez on court five.

Collins, who is ranked No. 4 nationally in singles, and Erica Susi (Vero Beach, Fla.) did not finish their matches after Kelley clinched the victory. Collins led 2-0 over No. 53 Saska Gavrilovska in the third set on court one, while Susi trailed on court six 3-1 after winning the first set.

No. 7 Virginia 4, No. 9 Texas A&M 1

Doubles
No. 19 Collins/Kelley (UVA) def. Paalma/Pierson (TAMU), 6-3
Elbaba/Nauta, 6-4 def. Bhosale/Mamalat (TAMU), 7-6
Gavrilovska/Gonzalez (TAMU) def. Olivarez/Wingo (UVA), 6-4
Singles
No. 4 Danielle Collins (UVA) vs. No. 53 Saska Gavrilovska (TAMU), 1-6, 7-5, 1-0 (susp.)
No. 8 Julia Elbaba (UVA) def. No. 58 Rachel Pierson (TAMU), 6-2, 6-4

No. 30 Stephanie Nauta (UVA) def. No. 106 Rutuja Bhosale (TAMU), 6-4, 6-1

Eve Paalma (TAMU) def. Victoria Olivarez (UVA), 6-3, 6-3

Meghan Kelley (UVA) def. Domenica Gonzalez (TAMU), 7-5, 6-2
Erica Susi (UVA) vs. Ines Deheza (TAMU), 7-6, 1-3 (susp.)