The Virginia men's tennis team celebrated joyously after accumulating an undefeated 9-0 record in the ACC regular season, but that mark still contained a hypothetical asterisk. How could the Cavaliers claim to be the best in the ACC without soundly defeating all 10 conference opponents? One remaining foe, Florida State, had not been dispatched. Luckily, the Cavaliers had the chance to white-out any lingering doubts against the last, elusive challenger Sunday morning in the ACC finals.
After traveling to FSU to watch rain cancel their match earlier in the season, it was only fitting when the Cavaliers trounced Florida State 4-1 in the finals of the ACC tournament Sunday morning to clinch their second-ever and second-consecutive conference title.
"We were all excited to get a crack at FSU," tournament Most Valuable Player Darrin Cohen said.
The Seminoles were also riled up for a chance to knock off No. 2 Virginia.
"We hadn't played them in the regular season," freshman Somdev Devvarman said. "They made a statement in the papers the previous day that they wanted to beat us, so we really wanted to win."
As the former Cinderellas of the 2004 ACC Tournament, Virginia's squad treated this conference title as business that finally got finished.
"This was our goal from the beginning," Cohen said. "We worked hard all season for this. It's extremely gratifying to see the results from the work we started six months ago."
How does the second title compare to the first?
"It's just as exciting this year," junior Rylan Rizza said. "But, once again, we did expect to win this ACC championship."
ACC Coach of the Year Brian Boland echoed Rizza's sentiments.
"I'm really proud of the guys," Boland said. "They've worked hard all year. It's really hard to win back-to-back ACC championships. Everybody was gunning for us this time."
With the ACC tournament title under their belts, the Cavaliers plan to enjoy their win.
"Last year's and this year's -- they're a little bit different but they're both extremely sweet," Boland said.
The title was especially sweet for Rizza, who turned 21 yesterday. By midday, Rizza's teammates had his present neatly wrapped up. Sure enough, as Devvarman recalled, Rizza and the rest of the Cavaliers were ready to swarm the court after their second ACC title.
"When I was making a winning shot, the team was already half-way around the court ready to celebrate with me," Devvarman said.
The Cavaliers enjoyed the last laugh of this ACC season.
"I could not have asked for a better birthday present," Rizza said. "We didn't get a chance to play Florida State in the regular season. It was a fitting end to beat every single ACC team this year."
By the end of next week, the ACC luster will be put behind them as the Cavaliers focus on their next task. Boland has his eyes set on a bigger prize -- the NCAA championship. And for that, Virginia goes back to business as usual.
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