Cardinals Are Set to Play Boston College in First Round of ACCs

Wednesday, April 21

Rome, Ga.

10:00 a.m.

University of Louisville

Boston College

Andrea Di Palma, Rhea Verma high five in celebration

Photo by: Adam Creech | Louisville Athletics

Cardinals Are Set to Play Boston College in First Round of ACCs

April 20, 2021 | Women's Tennis

Play begins at 10 a.m. Wednesday, April 21

By: Nancy Worley

The University of Louisville women's tennis team will take on Boston College in the first round of the ACC Tournament Wednesday, April 21 at 10 a.m. in Rome, Georgia.

The Cardinals, 8-12, 3-10 in the ACC, are coming off a 6-1 win over Butler last weekend on Senior Day. UofL is led by the No. 13-ranked doubles pair of Raven Neely and Tatiana Simova. The doubles pair of Andrea Di Palma and Rhea Verma are ranked No. 64 and Di Palma is ranked No. 100 in singles.

BC is 4-10 overall, 2-10 in ACC play and are coming off a loss to Clemson last weekend, falling 6-1 to the Tigers.

Last meeting:
Louisville defeated Boston College 5-2 on February 21. The Cards claimed the early momentum, securing their seventh doubles point of the season with victories at No.1 and No.2. The top line of Rhea Verma and Andrea Di Palma started the Cardinals off with a 6-2 win followed by Raven Neely and Tatiana Simova taking court two, 6-3, to clinch the doubles point. Dina Chaika and Chelsea Sawyer went unfinished on court three, tying 5-5 with the Eagles' Sophia Edwards and Hailey Wilcox.

In singles, Boston College evened the count before Raven Neely and Rhea Verma advanced Louisville's lead to 3-1. Neely was the first to win her court at No.3 singles, defeating Eagles' Natasha Irani 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Verma then outlasted Laura Lopez in straight sets 6-0, 7-6, winning 11-9 in the tiebreaker at No.5.

Clinching the match in dramatic fashion, Di Palma responded to a 4-6 loss in the first set to win 6-3, 6-3 in the final two frames at the No.2 position.

Last ACC Tournament Meeting:
The University of Louisville women's tennis team fell 4-1 to No. 40 Boston College when the Eagles pulled out the doubles point and won three of the first four singles matches Wednesday night in the first round of the 2019 ACC Championship at Cary Tennis Park.

The doubles point was a gritty battle as senior Sena Suswam and Chloe Hamlin dispatched Yufei Long and Dasha Possokhova 6-0 at No. 2. Cardinals Aleksandra Mally and Diana Wong fell 6-4 at No. 3 leaving the point to be decided at the No. 1 slot. Raven Neely had multiple match points before dropping the tiebreaker 7-6 to the left-handed duo of Kylie Wilcox and Jackie Urbinati.

Down 1-0, the Cards got a boost from senior Sena Suswam, who rolled 6-3, 6-2 over Jackie Urbaniti 6-3, 6-2. Nikolina Jovic fell at No. 1 to Yufei Long 6-3, 6-2. Laura Lopez beat Diana Wong 6-2, 6-3 at No. 6. The match was clinched by Natasha Irani, who won 6-3. 6-3 over Aleksandra Mally. The other two matches were left unfinished.

The championship match will be broadcast live on ACC Network Extra, with Sam Gore handling play-by-play and Jill Craybas serving as analyst.

Follow the Cards here:
ACC Tennis Championships live stats landing page – http://acclive.statbroadcast.com/
PlaySight link – https://web.playsight.com/facility/rome-tennis-center/home