After the No. 6 University of Virginia men's tennis team improved its record to 6-2 with wins against No. 9 Baylor and No. 42 Michigan, the Cavaliers will look to continue their home winning streak this weekend.
Virginia faces No. 24 Texas A&M this afternoon and No. 20 University of Texas Sunday.
The Cavaliers took down the Bears last Saturday in front of the largest crowd Virginia has ever had at a tennis match. Close to 900 people came to support the team as they closed out the win with a score of 6-1.
Sunday, Virginia swept all six singles matches against the Wolverines en route to a 6-1 win.
The Cavaliers, however, are not underestimating their opponents this weekend.
"It was really nice to beat Baylor," senior Darrin Cohen said. "But it's just another stepping stone in terms of what we're trying to accomplish for the season. These are two more really important matches."
The intensity of the matches will be elevated this weekend as both the Aggies and the Longhorns will be looking for revenge.
"We know that if we come out all guns firing we're definitely the favorites, so we shouldn't have any trouble," sophomore Somdev Devvarman said. "But at the same time these guys are tough. We played both of them [last year] at Texas and [at] A&M, and we had 4-3 battles with them. So obviously they're looking to get us. They want to get us at home this time because that's what we did last time, so it's going to be a big weekend."
One aspect the team looks to repeat from last weekend is the doubles point they managed to win against Baylor and just barely lost against Michigan.
"We're a tough team to beat," Virginia coach Brian Boland said. "When we win the doubles point, that really makes a difference for us. That's something we've always emphasized in our program, and there's been no difference in our approach this week."
What may be even more important than the doubles point for Virginia is the record-setting crowd that appeared last weekend.
"We need the student body and the Hoo Crew," Boland said when asked what they needed to win this weekend. "The Hoo Crew is awesome. They did an outstanding job last weekend. The Hoo Crew, as well as the student body, came out last weekend, and they got the crowd involved, which I think gave us the energy early on in the Baylor match that carried on all the way throughout the singles [matches] and helped clinch the win for us."
The players echoed Boland's sentiments on the crowd's effect. After suffering a loss Jan. 29 at Illinois, Cavalier players stressed the importance that the sizable home crowd had on both the hosts and visitors. The same was the case last weekend for Virginia.
"It definitely adds an incredible amount of intensity and electricity in the building," Cohen said. "It's just a really fun atmosphere to play tennis in. It's virtually impossible for an opposing team to come in and take the doubles point with the band and the Hoo Crew out and it's just really a great atmosphere for fun tennis"
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