| U.VA. VS. MICHIGAN |
| Today:1 p.m. Where:Tulsa, Okla. |
One is not enough for the University of Virginia men's tennis team. It's been a glorious season for the Cavaliers, but they won't be satisfied unless they win a second national championship.
In February, U.Va. traveled to Seattle for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's national indoors tournament. Four victories later, the Wahoos were champions. Now they're looking to wear the NCAA crown.
Top-seeded Virginia (30-0) is one of 16 teams left in the NCAA tournament. The Cavaliers meet Michigan -- a team they whipped 5-2 in early February -- in the third round today at 1 p.m. at Tulsa, Okla.
The NCAA team quarterfinals are scheduled for Sunday, the semifinals for Monday and the final for Tuesday in Tulsa.
The Cavaliers opened the tournament by disposing of Fairleigh Dickinson and then Penn State last weekend in Charlottesville.
"I feel we're all peaking at the right time," said Ted Angelinos, one of three seniors in seventh-year coach Brian Boland's lineup.
This is U.Va.'s fifth straight trip to the 64-team NCAA tourney's third round. In 2005 and '06, the Wahoos advanced to the quarterfinals before being eliminated. A year ago, they lost to Georgia in the semifinals.
"Probably a little difference this year is, we've got a little more confidence," said Treat Huey, who plays No. 2 singles for Virginia. "We've played the other teams in the country and beaten them before, so we know we can do it again."
Angelinos said: "We've played most of the [other] top-10 teams. We've had some close wins and we've had some tough wins, and that's prepared us for this tournament."
Seniors Huey, Angelinos and, of course, Somdev Devvarman form the heart of a team that was expected to be a force and has lived up to expectations. The Cavaliers have been ranked No. 1 all season, and they have the top-ranked singles player (reigning NCAA champion Devvarman) and the top-ranked doubles team (Devvarman and Huey).
"I've never brought a team to the Sweet Sixteen and felt as good as I do today," Boland said this week in Charlottesville.
This team, he said, has "the edge that a lot of teams haven't had in the past, in terms of that experience, an unbelievable chemistry and leadership I can only dream of as a coach."
The NCAA tournament, weather permitting, is played outdoors. Still, Boland said, the ITA indoors title "gives us a great deal of confidence, and certainly I think we've only built on that confidence as the year went on."
Its perfect record notwithstanding, U.Va. occasionally struggled during the regular season. The Cavaliers edged Illinois 4-3 on Jan. 25, Kentucky 4-3 on Feb. 8 and UCLA 4-3 on Feb. 16 in the ITA indoors tournament.
"We didn't play particularly well at certain points of the season," Boland said. "We weren't as healthy as we needed to be, and we really are where we need to be now. We're really healthy, we're feeling good, our confidence is there, and now we just need to go play and enjoy it."


digg it
Save This Page