CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- Virginia opened the NCAA tournament with a 4-0 win against Youngstown State on Friday at Snyder Tennis Center.
The No. 3-seeded Cavaliers improved to 22-5 and will play Kentucky (17-11) on Saturday in the second round with the winner advancing to the NCAA Round of 16 next week in Athens, Ga. The Wildcats posted a 4-2 win against Columbia earlier on Friday.
The win marked the 300th career victory for Virginia head coach Mark Guilbeau, who has guided the Cavaliers to their sixth consecutive NCAA tournament and first ACC regular-season and tournament championships in 2013-14.
"First and foremost, congrats to the girls and the effort they put forward [Friday]," Guilbeau said. "It's become a very business-like team and at the same time having a lot of fun. We've talked about having a purpose in practice and they've done that to the highest level. They've done a great job of valuing every match and we're getting to the point now where pretty much every point these kids are playing, they're giving one hundred percent. It's also fun to see them having fun out there and pulling for each other. I'm also impressed with Youngstown State. They fought very hard and did some good things, and should be proud of their season."
Virginia claimed the doubles and point and received singles wins from Caryssa Peretz, Rachel Pierson and Stephanie Nauta in the victory.
The Cavaliers captured the doubles point with wins at Nos. 2 and 3. Julia Elbaba and Pierson blanked Annina Brendel and Nehel Sahni 8-0 on court No. 1. The Cavaliers quickly clinched the point as Danielle Collins and Maci Epstein (beat Marta Burak and Dominika Lackova 8-3 on court No. 3. Nauta and Li Xi led Margarita Sadovnikova and Carolyn Jesko 6-3 on court No. 1 when UVa clinched the point.
Peretz gave Virginia a 2-0 lead with a 6-0, 6-1 win against Jesko on court No. 6. Pierson beat Brendel 6-0, 6-1 on court No. 4 and Nauta clinched the win for the second consecutive match with a 6-0, 6-3 win versus Lackova on court No. 3.
