Duke Rally Falls Short at 13th-Ranked Virginia, 4-2

Friday, March 27

Charlottesville, VA

4:00 p.m.

Duke University

Virginia

Photo by: Duke Athletics

Duke Rally Falls Short at 13th-Ranked Virginia, 4-2

3/27/2026 10:35:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The 24th-ranked Duke women's tennis team made a late rally, but eventually came up short at 13th-ranked Virginia Friday evening in ACC action inside the Boar's Head Sports Club in Charlottesville.

Virginia went ahead, 3-0, but the Blue Devils clawed back to 3-2 and were threatening late, but the Cavaliers were able to clinch with a 4-2 victory. The Blue Devils dropped to 11-5, 5-1 in the ACC, while Virginia moved to 14-4, 7-0.

How It Happened

Duke came out at the start and won the first game on courts one and three in doubles, but the Cavaliers went on to register leads on all three courts.
On court two, 36th-ranked Annabelle Xu and Martina Genis Salas took a 4-1 lead early against Duke's 73rd-ranked Eleana Yu and Claire An. The Blue Devils tried to come back cutting the lead to 5-3, but dropped a 6-3 decision.
Duke's Irina Balus and Shavit Kimchi were in a battle on court one against fourth-ranked Melodie Collard and Vivian Yang. The Blue Devils opened with a 1-0 lead, but Virginia responded by winning two games to go ahead, 2-1. With the match tied, 3-3, the Cavaliers went on to win three games in a row to clinch the doubles point, 6-3.
When the doubles point was clinched, Duke's Liv Hovde and Aspen Schuman were tied, 5-5, with Isabelle Lacy and Kaitlyn Rolls.
The Cavaliers went ahead, 2-0, as Kaitlyn Rolls totaled a 6-1, 7-5 victory in singles over Kimchi on court four.
In a ranked matchup on court one, Duke's 19th-ranked Balus faced 32nd-ranked Annabelle Xu. Balus led, 3-2, early in the first and held a 6-5 advantage late, eventually dropped a 7-5 tiebreaker to fall behind. In the second set, Balus trailed the entire set and lost, 6-4, to give Virginia a 3-0 lead.
Duke then started to rally holding leads on the other four courts remaining.
Schuman, who is ranked No. 89, came back from dropping the first set, 6-0, against 81st-ranked Yang on court two to win the next two sets, 6-3, 6-4, to put Duke on the board, 1-3.
Hovde then registered a 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 win on court three against 108th-ranked Lacy on court three to put a second point on the board for Duke.
On court six, 112th-ranked Yu dropped the first set, 6-3, but responded with a 6-4 victory in the second set. In the third, Yu led 2-0 and 3-2, but eventually went back-and-forth down the stretch. With the match tied, 5-5, Collard won the final two games to clinch the win with a 7-5 victory.
When the match was clinched, An was trailing 106th-ranked Genis Salas, 4-6, 6-3, 3-4, on court five.

Notes

Duke lost the doubles point for the second match in a row and the fourth time out of the last six matches.
Virginia has won five matches in a row against the Blue Devils.
The loss by Irina Balus snapped a six-match winning streak for the Duke sophomore.
Liv Hovde notched her second ranked win of the season and collected her 12th singles victory of the year. She is now 3-0 in ACC action.
Aspen Schuman won her third match in a row and improved to 6-0 in ACC action. She is now 10-2 on the season as a rookie.

Next Match

Duke closes the weekend with a trip to Blacksburg for an ACC contest with Virginia Tech at 1 p.m., Sunday, March 29.

To stay up to date with Blue Devils women's tennis, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeWTEN".

#GoDuke

#13 Virginia 4, #24 Duke 2
March 27, 2026
Charlottesville, Va. * Boar's Head Sports Club

Doubles
1. #4 Melodie Collard/Vivian Yang (UVA) def. Irina Balus/Shavit Kimchi (DU) 6-3
2. #36 Annabelle Xu/Martina Genis Salas (UVA) def. #73 Eleana Yu/Claire An (DU) 6-3
3. Liv Hovde/Aspen Schuman (DU) vs. Isabelle Lacy/Kaitlyn Rolls (UVA) 5-5, unfinished

Singles
1. #32 Annabelle Xu (UVA) def. #19 Irina Balus (DU) 7-6 (7-5), 6-4
2. #89 Aspen Schuman(DU) def. #81 Vivian Yang (UVA) 0-6, 6-3, 6-4
3. Liv Hovde (DU) def. #108 Isabelle Lacy (UVA) 7-5, 2-6, 6-4
4. Kaitlyn Rolls (UVA) def. Shavit Kimchi (DU) 6-1, 7-5
5. Claire An (DU) vs. #106 Martina Genis Salas (UVA) 4-6, 6-3, 3-4, unfinished
6 Melodie Collard (UVA) def. . #112 Eleana Yu (DU) 6-3, 4-6, 7-5

Order of Finish: Doubles (2,1*) Singles (4,1,2,3,6*)