Women’s Tennis: #10 UVA completes weekend at UNC Invitational

The UVA women’s tennis team completed the first weekend of competition for the 2021 season on Sunday at the UNC Invitational.

In addition to the Cavaliers, players from #1 North Carolina, #6 Duke and #8 NC State competed against each other in doubles and singles throughout the weekend.

Play was conducted at the Cone-Kenfield Tennis Center at North Carolina and the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center at NC State.

Virginia players faced off against players from North Carolina on Saturday and NC State on Sunday.

“It was a long time coming and it was great to get back out on the courts and compete as a team,” Virginia head coach Sara O’Leary said. “We challenged the ladies to play two high-level teams and I thought they took that opportunity and responded well. While we were able to identify areas for improvement, I’m encouraged by the way we competed and am excited to build off this weekend.”

Freshman Hibah Shaikh (Teaneck, N.J.) and senior Vivian Glozman highlighted the singles action on Saturday as Shaikh won her first singles match as a Cavaliers with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 victory over No. 53 Alle Sanford of North Carolina. Glozman also picked up the win with her 6-4, 6-2 victory over Sophia Patel.

In Saturday’s doubles action, Shaikh and partner Amber O’Dell (New Milford, N.J.) defeated the Tar Heel duo of Kacie Harvey and Anika Yarlagadda by a score of 6-1. Virginia tandem of Sofia Munera (Pereira, Colombia) and Natasha Subhash (Fairfax, Va.) also picked up doubles wins with a 6-3 victory over the No. 15 pairing of Makenna Jones and Sanford and a 6-3 win over the No. 45 duo of Cameron Morra and Elizabeth Scotty.

Sunday’s doubles action also saw the tandem of O’Dell and Shaikh grab a 6-4 victory over the NC State duo of Lexi Keberle and Amelia Rajecki.

Munera, who is ranked No. 91 nationally in singles, also picked up a singles victory for the Cavaliers on Sunday when she defeated Rajecki of NC State by a score of 6-2, 7-6 (5).

Virginia will return to action next weekend in dual competition as part of the ITA Kickoff Weekend. The Cavaliers will compete in a four-team regional hosted by No. 13 Ohio State. Virginia will face Tennessee in its opening match on Saturday and face either the Buckeyes or Washington on Sunday.