CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The No. 9 Virginia women’s tennis team won 4-3 against No. 6 North Carolina in dramatic fashion on Monday (Jan. 20) in a non-conference contest at the Boar’s Head Sports Club.
Senior Melodie Collard won the deciding point for the Cavaliers (4-0), breaking a 3-3 tie in the match to defeat the Tar Heels (3-1).
Collard and senior Elaine Chervinsky opened the match with a 6-1 win over the top ranked doubles team in the ITA rankings Susanna Maltby and Carson Tanguilig, but North Carolina won on doubles courts two and three to take the doubles point.
Chervinsky tied the match at one with a dominant 6-1, 6-0 win over No. 20 Tanguilig on court two.
Virginia took the lead on a 6-1, 6-2 win from graduate student Sara Ziodato over Alanis Hamilton on court four. On the top court, junior Annabelle Xu extended the UVA lead to 3-1 with a 6-3, 6-3 win against Reese Brantmeier.
The Tar Heels cut into the Virginia lead with a 6-3, 6-1 win on court five. Shortly after, North Carolina tied the match at three with a 7-6 (6), 6-3 win on court three.
The match came down to court six. Melodie Collard trailed 7-5, 4-1 against Claire Hill but battled back, saving a match point to force a second set tiebreaker. Collard went on to win the tiebreaker 7-4, forcing…
