Nov. 9, 2012

FLUSHING MEADOWS, N.Y. - The Virginia women's tennis duo of Li Xi (Kunming, China) and Stephanie Nauta (Galveston, Texas) became the first Cavaliers to reach the semifinals of the prestigious ITA Intercollegiate Indoors Championships during Friday's play at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

Xi and Nauta, who upset the No. 4 seed in Thursday's round of 16, continued their strong play with an 8-6 win over Isaura Enrique and Samantha Vickers of Tulsa in the quarterfinals on Friday. They will meet Lorraine Guillermo and Khunpak Issara of Pepperdine in Saturday's semifinals.

The team of Maci Epstein (Winter Park, Fla.) and Erin Vierra (Norwell, Mass.) began play Friday in the consolation draw with an 8-5 win over the No. 2 seed, Kate Fuller and Lauren Herring of Georgia. They will meet Sonya Latycheva and Agustina Sol-Eskenazi in the consolation semifinals on Saturday.

The tournament will run through Sunday at the home of the U.S. Open.