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JUNE 2022 15 to pick up four straight singles wins, with Chervinsky clinching the win on court three to send UVA into the semis and its show- down with the Tar Heels. The semis started with another toppling of a No. 1, the Tar Heels' top-ranked doubles team of Elizabeth Scotty and Fiona Crawley, by UVA's top duo, second-years Emma Na- varro and Hibah Shaikh. They edged Scotty and Crawley 7-5 to clinch the doubles point and give the Cavaliers an early 1-0 advan- tage. Navarro whipped through the No. 4 ranked singles player, Cameron Morra, 6-1, 6-0, to give UVA a 2-0 lead. After the Tar Heels tied the match 2-2, second-year Sara Ziodato, a transfer from Baylor who grew up in Trieste, Italy, put UVA back in the lead before third-year and two- time singles All-American Natasha Subhash closed out the victory with a straight-set win on court two. As the team sat at the team banquet, celebrating the UNC victory, they were a week away from adding to the list of things to celebrate. When the men's and women's teams gath- ered together at the Virginia Tennis Facility to watch their respective selection shows on the state-of-the-art Dockter Family Scoreboard, they saw the women's team earn its second- highest seeding ever at No. 5. The seeding gave the women hosting rights for regionals and super regionals, the three matches they would need to win if they were to advance to the NCAA quarterfinals. There was more to celebrate when the NCAA Individual Championship selections were announced. Navarro was named the No. 1 seed in the singles championship, the first player in program history to be the top player heading into the tournament. In doubles, Navarro and Shaikh, fresh off their win against the former No. 1 doubles team, moved up to a No. 3 national ranking and were the first tandem in program history to earn a top-four seed in the championship. Those seedings also meant automatic All-America honors for both players, Na- varro in singles and doubles and Shaikh in doubles. Subhash would also go on to earn All-America honors in singles. In the past three years, the Cavaliers have tallied 11 All- America honors. In the previous 44 years, the program produced 10 All-Americans. The Cavaliers' NCAA run began with a pair of 4-0 victories in their home regional to advance to the round of 16. The Super Regional match against No. 12 Oklahoma State started well with UVA taking the doubles point against the Cowgirls, but then took a turn when UVA lost four first sets in singles. Rallied on by the home crowd's support, the Cavaliers turned three of those four courts to force third sets. Navarro did what she had been doing all season, putting up a win on the top court. On the opposite end of the lineup, Ziodato added another point for the Cavaliers. Ziodato transformed into a model of consistency on six, with only two losses in her final 15 matches. The big point came from another player who came into her own during the season: Shaikh. She rallied from a 6-2 loss in her first set to win the final two by identical 6-1 scores to send her team to the Elite Eight. It was her third straight clinching effort during the NCAA Championship. "This team has shown that time and time again throughout this entire season that they are resilient," O'Leary said after the win. "They've learned to embrace the tough moments, and there was definitely a tough moment when we lost four first sets pretty handily. "But this team, you can't ever count them out. They believe in themselves. They under- stand they may have to change strategies, and they're willing to do it. They're willing to adjust, and they're willing to just stay out there in those uncomfortable moments. That's what they did today, and it paid off." With that 4-1 win against Oklahoma State, the team advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals for just the third time in pro- gram history, before running into a red-hot Texas team that was in the midst of a run to repeat as NCAA champions. "This is one united group, and I couldn't be prouder of all they accomplished this year and whom they became as a team," O'Leary said. "They chose to play this sea- son with so much passion, courage and belief, and we had a blast! "This was a great year and one we can definitely build on. I am very excited about the future of UVA tennis!" The trip to the Elite Eight was the third for the program, but the first for UVA's head coach. O'Leary, who signed a five-year contract extension this winter, took over a program ranked No. 43 in the final ITA rank- ings the season before she arrived. Under her guidance, there has been a steady rise to this year's final No. 5 ranking, the team's first ACC semifinal appearance since 2016, and confidence that NCAA quarterfinal runs will be the new norm but not the ending point. It seems inevitable that a Final Four will be celebrated in the opening line at the team banquet in the not-so-distant future Second-year Emma Navarro earned the No. 1 national rank- ing in singles and finished the year with a 26-2 record in dual matches en route to All-America accolades. (Photo by Matt Riley/courtesy UVA) The Cavaliers earned their highest ever seeding in the NCAA Championship at No. 5 and advanced to the quarterfinals for just the third time in program history. (Photo courtesy UVA)