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30 CAVALIER CORNER cavalier profile EMMA NAVARRO First-Year • Tennis First-year women's tennis player Emma Navarro opened her college career with a bang this year. She debuted at the top of Virginia's singles lineup and began her college career with 14 consecutive victories. Navarro finished her rookie season with a 19-1 record at No. 1 singles. Her only loss in the regular season came when she was edged in three sets by defending NCAA singles champion Estela Perez-Somarriba of Miami on April 4. Navarro went 11-1 against ranked opponents, including picking up three wins against singles players listed among the top 10 in the nation. She rose up through the ITA singles rankings, be- coming the third player in program history to be the top-ranked player in the nation when she hit No. 1 on April 13. As Navarro plowed through the competition, she also began to collect accolades. She was a fixture in the ACC's weekly honors, twice being named the ACC Player of the Week and earning six Freshman of the Week accolades. She was named the ACC Freshman of the Year and was voted to a spot on the All-ACC first team. She has already earned All-America honors in singles with a chance to pick up the honor in doubles as well while helping the Cavaliers (16-7 overall, 9-4 ACC) punch their ticket to the NCAA Championship's round of 16 for the first time since 2016. Of all her accomplishments this season, Navarro's biggest came during the month of April. After playing a match against the Hurricanes in Miami on Sunday, April 4, Navarro flew home to Charleston, S.C., where she had earned a wild card into the main draw of the WTA's Volvo Car Open. She had a practice day on Monday, April 5, before playing a primetime match on the Tennis Channel in which she topped Renata Zarazua, the world's No. 147-ranked player, in straight sets to pick up her first-ever win on the women's senior circuit. She also played in the doubles main draw, advancing to a quarterfinal match that ended well after 11 p.m. on Thursday April 8. On the morning of Friday, April 9, she met her team in Winston-Salem, N.C., in time for a 10 a.m. warm-up to prepare for that afternoon's match against Wake Forest. Navarro was back in Charleston again on Monday, April 12, to play in her second straight WTA tournament, the MUSC Health Women's Open, this time picking up a win against a player ranked in the top 100, No. 96 Tereza Martincova. It's been quite an impressive rookie season for the Hoo. — Melissa Dudek Photo by Matt Riley/courtesy UVA