Women’s tennis: No. 23 UVA posts 5-2 Victory over Richmond

The No. 23 UVA women’s tennis team (3-0) closed out its three-match, season-opening homestand on Tuesday, picking up a 5-2 victory over Richmond (0-2) at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.

Virginia claimed the doubles point and took four of the six singles matches on the way to the win over the Spiders.

Senior Meghan Kelley (Falmouth, Maine), the No. 32 player nationally in singles, saw her first action of the season as she played at the top of the lineup on Tuesday. She was one of the four players to win singles matches, joining junior Hunter Bleser (New Braunfels, Texas), sophomore Vivian Glozman (Bellevue, Wash.), and freshman Sofia Munera (Pereira, Colombia) in singles wins.

The Cavaliers took wins on courts two and three in doubles to clinch the doubles point at the start of the match. The tandem of freshman Amber O’Dell (New Milford, N.J.) and senior Erica Susi (Vero Beach, Fla.) won 6-2 at three doubles before the duo of Bleser and Glozman won 6-3 at two doubles.

In singles action, Glozman continued the scoring for Virginia as she raced to a 6-0, 6-1 victory over Richmond’s Dessi Zlateva on court three. Moments later, Bleser pushed the overall team score out to 3-0 with her 6-1, 6-2 victory over Helene Heiberg on court five.

Kelley then clinched the match with her 6-2, 6-0 victory over Emily Dunbar on court one.

Richmond got on the board with back-to-back wins on courts six and two, respectively, with the Spiders’ Adrienne Haynes and Kiana Marshall taking victory in super tiebreaks after splitting the first two sets on each court.

Munera capped the scoring for the Cavaliers on court four, grinding through a tight battle to take a 7-5, 7-6 (5) win over Lea Owens.

Virginia will return to action this weekend, traveling to Oklahoma State to participate in the ITA Kickoff Weekend. The Cavaliers will face the ninth-ranked Cowgirls at 5 p.m. ET on Friday (Jan. 26) as part of a four-team regional. The two other teams in the regional are No. 16 Kansas and No. 21 Illinois. The four squads are playing for a berth in the ITA National Women’s Team Indoor Championships.

No. 23 Virginia 5, Richmond 2

Singles

1. No. 32 Meghan Kelley def. Emily Dunbar (UR) – 6-2, 6-0

2. Kiana Marshall (UR) def. Amber O’Dell – 7-6 (5), 1-6, 1-0 (6)

3. Vivian Glozman def. Dessi Zlateva (UR) – 6-0, 6-1

4. Sofia Munera def. Lea Owens (UR) – 7-5, 7-6 (5)

5. Hunter Bleser def. Helene Heiberg (UR) – 6-1, 6-2

6. Adrienne Haynes (UR) def. Erica Susi – 6-3, 1-6, 1-0 (6)

Order of Finish: 3, 5, 1, 6, 2, 4

Doubles

1. No. 10 Meghan Kelley/Sofia Munera vs. Emily Dunbar/Kiana Marshall (UR) – 5-5 (unfinished)

2. Hunter Bleser/Vivian Glozman def. Lea Owens/Dessi Zlateva (UR) – 6-3

3. Amber O’Dell/Erica Susi def. Lyndell Giffenig/Helene Heiberg (UR) – 6-2

Order of Finish: 3, 2