Virginia women's tennis team falls to Baylor in ITA National Indoors

The ninth-ranked Virginia women’s tennis team fell to No. 5 Baylor in their final match in ITA National Team Indoor Championships on Sunday night at the Boar's Head Sports Club.

In a weekend with stiff competition, the Cavaliers hand their hands full from the beginning. Virginia dropped a decision to No. 12 Northwestern on Friday, but rallied back on Saturday to defeat No. 13 Georgia Tech.

Virginia got off to a good start Sunday against the Bears, grabbing the doubles point. Emily Fraser and Li Xi, playing at the No. 1 position defeated Diana Nakic and Nicole Kosakowski (8-0), while Maria Fuccillo and Lindsey Hardenbergh defeated Ema Burgic and Sona Novakova (8-2) in the No. 3 spot.

Improving his team’s doubles play has been at the top of Virginia coach Mark Guilbeau’s checklist.

“Our doubles improved a lot. We realize now after winning a few doubles points and losing a few singles that the same process we had to improve the doubles, we shift focus into improving the singles,” Guilbeau said. “I like winning the doubles. I think it’s ambitious to take that momentum and thrive on it.”

Added Fraser: “We made a goal for ourselves to really work on our doubles play. We’ve made leaps and bounds in progress in the last couple of weeks before this tournament to improve doubles. I think that was a big positive for us. Now we just need to do the same thing for singles.”

After the strong doubles play, the Cavaliers faltered during singles. Baylor picked up wins across the board, with Nina Secerbegovic defeating Hardenbergh (No. 2; 6-2, 7-5), Novakova defeating Xi (No. 3; 7-5, 6-2), and Jordaan Sanford defeating Hana Tomljanovic (No. 4; 6-3, 6-1). Virginia picked up a win in the No. 6 spot, with Erin Vierra defeating Megan Horter (6-0, 6-1).

Virginia’s Caryssa Peretz pushed the Bears’ Ema Burgic in the No. 5 spot, but Burgic held on (6-1, 7-6). This game ended the match, while Fraser led Nakic in the No. 1 spot (3-6, 6-3, 6-5).

While disappointed with the loss, Guilbeau acknowledged that his team had plenty to focus on while keeping their heads high.

“You don’t win all of them when you’re playing this level of competition. You want to win, but I leave here recognizing how strong these teams are. Right now, we’re right there with them. Even though we lost two matches and won one, we’re still playing great tennis,” Guilbeau said. “We can be one of those teams that takes the next step and improves a little bit, and we’ll be ahead of them. We’re in a good position. We do believe we have the means to get even better.”

Fraser also acknowledged the strength of the tournament’s competition and realizes the push it will give her team.

“This is definitely the hardest competition we’ve faced all season and probably the toughest matches we’ve had for a while. I think we competed really hard, and we should be proud of ourselves,” Fraser said. “I know we didn’t have the results we wanted, but we know what we have to work on and we have a lot to look forward to this season. Now we have very specific details that coaches have noticed throughout the whole weekend watching us in our matches that we can work on and improve on specifically in singles to be a better team there.”

Virginia will aim to come back strong from the weekend. The Cavaliers have big plans for the season. Guilbeau’s team has set high goals, but goals that are certainly within reach.

“There are so many goals. It’s very real; it’s not pretend. Those goals are lofty. One of them is to win the ACC title and ACC tournament. We’re striving to be a Top 5 team and compete at the NCAA’s,” Guilbeau added. “Personally, I believe that we can be a team that improves. Every team we play, I think we can be competitive to beat.”