EVANSTON, Ill. – The No. 5 Virginia women’s tennis won their opener of the ITA National Team Indoor Championship, topping No. 13 Tennessee 4-2 on Friday (Feb. 7) at the Combe Tennis Center.
Sophomore Blanca Pico Navarro clinched the victory for the Cavaliers (7-1), saving three match points to help Virginia defeat Tennessee (4-1) and advance to the quarterfinals. The Cavaliers will face No. 8 North Carolina on Saturday (Feb. 8) at 1 p.m. ET.
Freshman Karolina Kozakova and senior Melodie Collard won 6-4 on the top court to open the match. Junior Meggie Navarro and grad student Sara Ziodato picked up a 6-3 win on doubles court three to give Virginia an early 1-0 lead in the match.
The Volunteers tied the match with a straight set victory on court four.
Collard pulled away in the second set on court five, winning 7-6 (1), 6-1 to put the Cavaliers back up 2-1.
Tennessee tied the match again with a hard-fought win in straight sets on the top court.
On court three, freshman Isabelle Lacy split sets with Maeve Thornton but raced to a 3-0 lead in the decider. Lacy cruised to victory in the third set, taking her match 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to give the Cavaliers a 3-2 lead over the Volunteers.
Ziodato and Pico Navarro split sets on courts two and six in the remaining…
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