The Virginia men's tennis team travels to Chicago for the National Indoor Team Championships this weekend. It will take on No. 18 Texas today to start what the team hopes will be a strong showing in the tournament, which features the top two teams from every region nationally.
The team, led by junior Treat Huey, the ACC player of the week, is looking to build on its impressive 6-0 start and No. 3 national ranking.
Coming off a dominant win over then-No. 23 Michigan Saturday, the team is seeking to prove it is deserving of its No. 3 national ranking.
"Everyone is trying to do their best to show that Virginia is a team to be reckoned with, and not only the team, but every individual, wants to go out and show that they're the best players on this team," Virginia redshirt freshman Dominic Inglot said. "When other people have to look at who they're playing, they don't want to be playing Virginia players."
Having survived brutal road trips to Alabama and VCU already, this year's team should be better prepared for a difficult tournament like this one. Because a slew of other nationally ranked teams will be present, Virginia will face a formidable challenge demonstrating its merit even at a neutral site.
"[Defending champion] Georgia is going to be really strong," Inglot said. "Ohio, they're No. 2 in the country, so they'll be tough. But I guess we have to start with Texas now, so we just have to make sure we focus on them."
Inglot's play has been a strongpoint of the early season for the Cavaliers, but recent struggles with his serve, notably in the match against Michigan, have elicited some concern.
"That [serve] was not going too well; it was pretty much a bad day," Inglot said. "I think usually that's one of my strong points, so I've been trying to work on something other than that and I guess that was the reason I wasn't serving so well."
Despite concerns of an overly difficult schedule tiring the team too early in the season, the Cavaliers take a different stance on what can be gained from such a tough schedule.
"It's definitely the best thing we've done, because we've played five really good teams, so it's helped us get ready, because whichever team we're going to play now is going to be a very good challenge for us," third-year Somdev Devvarman said.
Devvarman views this tournament as not only an opportunity to demonstrate the team's ability on a national stage, but also as a chance to bond with some of the newer teammates.
"Marko [Miklo], Treat and I are the only ones who have traveled from last year, so it will be a good experience for the rest of the guys to see what it's like on a road trip for about five days," Devvarman said. "It'll be great for the team."
With the Cavaliers entering the tournament undefeated, the optimistic view is that this team will make a deep run in the postseason. This tournament could prove a good practice stage for the ACC and NCAA championships.
Virginia returns home to face Pepperdine Feb. 23 and Boise State Feb. 24.
Read More
Volleyball holds off Boston College in tight five-set win
By Lauren Halak | 10 hours agoSenior outside hitter Elayna Duprey led the team throughout the match with 22 points and 18 kills.
Virginia annihilated 41-14 in a must-win contest versus North Carolina
By Peter Kriebel | YesterdayJust about everything that could have gone wrong for Virginia football went wrong.
No. 24 women’s soccer not to be denied in late win over Clemson
By Sam Chun | YesterdayThe Cavaliers topped Clemson 1-0 in front of a packed out Klöckner Stadium.
