Women’s tennis: #21 Virginia advances in NCAA Tournament with 4-2 win over ODU

For the second consecutive season the #21 Virginia women’s tennis team (18-8) defeated an in-state opponent in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, taking a 4-2 win over Old Dominion (19-5) at the Carolina Tennis Center on campus at South Carolina.

The Cavaliers will now face either #4 South Carolina or North Florida at 10 a.m. Saturday (May 4) in a second-round matchup.

In the win over the Monarchs, the Cavaliers claimed the doubles point before picking up singles wins from sophomore Vivian Glozman (Bellevue, Wash.), freshman Sofia Munera (Pereira, Colombia) and junior Camille Favero (Sacramento, Calif.).

Virginia used a pair of breaks on courts two and three to lock up the doubles point and take the early lead in the match. The tandem of Glozman and Munera broke the Monarchs in the final game to win 6-3 on court two before the duo of Hunter Bleser (New Braunfels, Texas) and Meghan Kelley (Falmouth, Maine) broke for a 6-4 win on court three.

Old Dominion turned in the first singles victory, getting on the board when Yulia Starodubsteva took the match on court four from junior Chloe Gullickson (Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.) by a score of 6-0, 6-3.

Virginia then picked up back-to-back singles victories on courts two and five to push back into the lead. Glozman won a 6-2, 6-2 match against Natalia Vlasova before Munera rallied from a three-game deficit in the second set to take her match from Brooke Pilkington, 6-2 7-5.

With the win from Munera, the Cavaliers sat just one match shy of clinching the dual victory.

The Monarchs’ Oleksandra Andrieieva cut the overall score to 3-2 with a win on court three against Virginia’s Amber O’Dell (New Milford, N.J.), taking the match 6-4, 7-5. O’Dell battled back from a 5-2 deficit to tie the match 5-5 in the second set, but Andrieieva was able to close out the straight-set win.

Favero then clinched the match on court six, snapping a 2-2 tie in the second set and surging to the finish line with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Alesya Yakubovich.

No. 21 Virginia 4, No. 40 Old Dominion 2

Singles

1. No. 23 Meghan Kelley vs. No. 78 Holly Hutchinson (ODU) – 7-5, 4-3 (unfinished)

2. Vivian Glozman def. Natalia Vlasova (ODU) – 6-2, 6-2

3. Oleksandra Andrieieva (ODU) def. No. 123 Amber O’Dell vs. – 6-4, 7-5

4. Yulia Starodubsteva (ODU) def. Chloe Gullickson – 6-0, 6-3

5. Sofia Munera def. Brooke Pilkington (ODU) – 6-2, 7-5

6. Camille Favero def. Alesya Yakubovich (ODU) – 6-4, 6-2

Order of Finish: 4, 2, 5, 3, 6

Doubles

1. No. 50 Chloe Gullickson/Amber O’Dell vs. No. 76 Holly Hutchinson/Brooke Pilkington (ODU) – 4-5 (unfinished)

2. No. 90 Vivian Glozman/Sofia Munera def. Oleksandra Andrieieva/Yulia Starodubsteva (ODU) – 6-3

3. Hunter Bleser/Meghan Kelley def. Natalya Malenko/Natalia Vlasova (ODU) – 6-4

Order of Finish: 2, 3