Tennis season is gearing up in Charlottesville, and the Virginia men's and women's tennis teams are beginning the 2008 season favorably ranked.
The men's team features five returning starters, including top-ranked senior Somdev Devvarman, No. 3 junior Dominic Inglot, and No. 12 senior Treat Huey. Devvarman's, Inglot's and Huey's talent helped Virginia finish last season as the No. 2 team in the nation, leading the team to the NCAA semifinals before falling to No. 1 Georgia.
Devvarman and Huey enter the 2008 season as the country's No. 1 doubles team. Virginia coach Brian Boland's squad, however, boasts more than a couple of skilled upperclassmen -- it also has talented younger players. Among them are sophomore Houston Barrick and freshmen Michael Shabaz and Sanam Singh. Barrick enters the season as the No. 82 player in the nation -- the first time that he has been nationally ranked in his career. Singh and Shabaz, meanwhile, are teaming up in doubles play and enter the season ranked among the top 30 doubles teams in the nation.
According to a recent Fila Intercollegiate Tennis Association Division I Ranking, the Virginia men's tennis team currently holds the top slot. They are the only ACC team other than North Carolina to rank in the top 10.
Virginia men's tennis will kick off the 2008 season with a matchup against in-state foe William & Mary Sunday. The ITA rankings listed the Tribe as the No. 43 team in the nation, and William & Mary will enter the match returning from last season's 16-12 overall record. The Tribe's greatest threat rests in the doubles team of senior Alex Cojanu and sophomore Keziel Juneau. Cojanu and Juneau were ranked No. 32 in the national doubles rankings, and the pair ended last season with a 4-3 record.
After William & Mary, Virginia will take the court in matches against the University of Illinois, Notre Dame and Virginia Commonwealth in the coming weeks.
Other noteworthy matches for the Virginia men's team include home matches against Texas Feb. 29 and Baylor March 1, as well as a match against North Carolina at Chapel Hill April 4.
Virginia's women's team hopes to kick off a successful season this weekend as well. Virginia, who had the nation's top recruiting class in 2006, enters this season respectably, ranked No. 39 in the country. Key players include juniors Amanda Rales and Maggie Yahner, doubles winners at the Kitty Harrison Invitational held at UNC in the fall.
The Cavaliers will host No. 49 Purdue Friday. The Boilermakers bring a small squad with a reputation as perennial underachievers in the first season under new head coach Laura Glitz .
The women's team will also face No. 33 LSU and No. 21 Wake Forest this weekend. Other noteworthy games for the Cavaliers include home matches against No. 17 Duke April 13 and No. 11 Miami March 22.
-- compiled by Jenna Casey
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