Blue Devils Drop ACC Semifinal Match, 4-2, to Top-Seeded Virginia

Saturday, April 18

Cary, N.C.

2 p.m.

Duke University

Virginia

Photo by: ACC Photography

Blue Devils Drop ACC Semifinal Match, 4-2, to Top-Seeded Virginia

4/18/2026 6:50:00 PM | Women's Tennis

Box Score Box Score (PDF)

CARY, N.C. — The fourth-seeded and 18th-ranked Duke women's tennis team fell to top-seeded and seventh-ranked Virginia, 4-2, Saturday afternoon to end its run at the ACC Championship in the semifinals at the Cary Tennis Park in Cary.

After dropping a very tight doubles point, Duke battled back in singles with wins from Shavit Kimchi and Irina Balus, but it wasn't enough in the end. The Blue Devils dropped to 18-7 overall and next await the NCAA Tournament selection show.

How It Happened

On court two, Duke junior Eleana Yu and freshman Claire An traded breaks against the Cavaliers' 27th-ranked Martina Genis Salas and Annabelle Xu. Despite capturing a key break to tie the set, 3-3, Virginia immediately broke back and carried the rest of the set, 6-3.
Sophomore Irina Balus and junior Shavit Kimchi evened the doubles point for Duke as they defeated eighth-ranked Melodie Collard and Vivian Yang. The Blue Devil pair built up a quick 4-1 lead, before slipping slightly, but took the match, 6-4.
The doubles point came down to court three where sophomore Liv Hovde and freshman Aspen Schuman struggled to start, finding themselves in a 4-0 deficit. They battled back winning four games in a row to tie the match, 4-4. With the contest even, 5-5, the Blue Devils secured a key service break against the Cavaliers' Isabelle Lacy and Katie Rolls, 6-5, but were broken right back to send the match to a tiebreaker, 6-6. Hovde and Schuman found themselves down, 4-1, to start the tiebreaker, but battled back to tie it at 4-4 and 5-5, before Virginia took the doubles point with a 7-5 tiebreak win.
Kimchi put the Blue Devils on the scoreboard as she defeated Genis Salas, 6-1, 6-1, on court No. 5. Kimchi gained a quick, 3-0, lead over her opponent, only dropping one game, before claiming the first set with a key deuce point, 6-1. She then surrendered the first game of the second set, but never looked back winning six games in a row, 6-1.
On court four, An struggled to find a lead as she fell, 6-2, 6-2, to 114th-ranked Lacy.
At the top spot, 14th-ranked Balus found herself in a 4-0 early deficit in the first set, before chipping away to make it 5-3. She had a key break against Virginia's 61st-ranked Yang before holding serve to tie it at 5-5. The two then traded service holds to force a set tiebreaker that Balus dominated, 7-3. Balus then raced through the second set, 6-0, and leveling the overall match at 2-2.
On court two, 48th-ranked Schuman dropped the opening game before rallying to take a 3-2 lead against 29th-ranked Xu. Xu responded by winning four straight games to close the first set, 6-3. Schuman again fell behind in the second, before battling back to level it at 3-3. Xu then went up a break to make it a 5-3 ledger. Schuman broke right back to cut into the score, 5-4, but lost the deciding deuce point to surrender the set, 6-4.
The deciding point came on court three where neither Hovde or Rolls could go up a break with ties at 2-2, 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5. Rolls eventually broke through Hovde's service game and held to take the first set, 7-5. Hovde fell behind, 2-0, to start the second before rallying to level it again at 3-3. Rolls pulled ahead, 5-3, but Hovde had a key last-minute break to make it 5-4, but Rolls broke Hovde back at deuce to clinch the set and the match, 6-4.
Yu and Virginia's Collard kept it close on court six with ties at 2-2, 3-3, 4-4, 5-5 and 6-6 forcing a first set tiebreaker. Yu battled back from down, 2-0, in the tiebreaker by winning five points in a row to make it 5-3, before taking the tiebreak, 7-4. The match remained unfinished with Yu leading, 3-2, in the second when play was suspended.

Notes

Duke surrendered the doubles point for the ninth time this season and the second match in a row.
The Blue Devils moved to 79-30 in ACC Championship competition. This was Duke's 31st semifinals appearance in program history.
Shavit Kimchi improved to 4-2 and Irina Balus to 3-1 in ACC Championship play.
Kimchi collected her 49th career win and 11th of the season. It marked her second ranked victory of the year and ninth of her career.
Balus totaled her 20th win of the season to move to 20-8 overall and 15-3 in doubles action. She notched her fifth win in a row and 12th of the season against ranked foes.
Balus and Kimchi totaled their third win of the season together in doubles and second over a ranked opponent.

Quotes

"We put ourselves in a position to win the doubles today. I thought our doubles played pretty well across the board. We gave ourselves opportunities and we just didn't take advantage of it when we really needed that. I think that lingered in the singles a little bit and we played a little bit more defensive." — Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth
"Irina did a good job after being down in the first set. She really stayed true to what she needed to do to win that match." — Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth
"I'm happy with how we've been competing the last couple of weeks. There's definitely some in there that we wish we could redo, but we have two weeks now to get everything together and hopefully make a good NCAA run." — Duke head coach Jamie Ashworth

Up Next

The NCAA Tournament selection show will air Monday, April 27 at 4:30 p.m.

#7 Virginia 4, #18 Duke 2
April 18, 2026
Cary Tennis Park * Cary, N.C.

Doubles

Shavit Kimchi/Irina Balus (DU) def. #8 Melodie Collard/Vivian Yang (UVA) 6-4
#27 Martina Genis Salas/Annabelle Xu (UVA) def. #71 Claire An/Eleana Yu (DU) 6-3
Isabelle Lacy/Katie Rolls (UVA) def. Liv Hovde/Aspen Schuman (DU) 7-6 (7-5)