The Virginia men's tennis team will look to use its regular-season success as momentum for this weekend's ACC Tournament. No. 1-seed Virginia received a bye in the first round of the tournament and will face either No. 8-seed Miami or No. 9-seed Georgia Tech in its first match.
The Cavaliers completed their 11-0 run through the ACC this past weekend by defeating North Carolina and Duke by a score of 6-1 each. The undefeated record in the ACC marked the second time in three years that Virginia has completed an unblemished run through the ACC. The Cavaliers hope to translate their regular-season success into an ACC Tournament title, a feat they failed to accomplish last year when they were upset by Duke in the final.
"I feel like all the teams in the ACC feel that we're the team to beat and we have all the momentum going into next week," junior Treat Huey said. "That's good for us to have a lot of confidence; that always helps us. But we obviously have to go out next week and prove that we can do it three straight days."
Junior Somdev Devvarman agreed that the team's undefeated record will be an asset for the team in the tournament.
"No one has beaten us. So I think that kind of confidence just helps -- to know we have beaten every single team in the ACC, most of them pretty convincingly, I think that just gives us the kind of confidence that we can go out there and dominate," Devvarman said.
Devvarman garnered ACC Player of the Week honors this week for the fourth time this year. This gives him the lead against Huey, who has won the award three times. Devvarman's strong play must continue if Virginia wants to emerge from the weekend with a tournament title. When Huey and Devvarman perform well in doubles and at the first and second courts in singles, the rest of the Cavaliers tend to play well behind them.
The one concern for Virginia of late has been the play of redshirt freshman Dominic Inglot. Inglot has been ranked throughout much of the season and has continued to play well in doubles, but he has lost his last two singles matches.
"No one likes to lose, least of all me." Inglot said. "It's tough. You just have to go out there and keep working hard -- that's what I've been trying to do. It's going to click I just know. It's not a question of if; it's a question of when. If I keep working hard then it'll pay off, I know it will, so I've just got to stay positive and I'll get through it."
Regardless of their prior success, the Cavaliers will have to live up to their reputation if they are to bring away a title this weekend, as the ACC is one of the toughest and deepest conferences in the country.
"I think we need to use the momentum," Virginia coach Brian Boland said. "There are still some things we need to fine-tune and continue to improve. But I have no doubt that we'll be ready to go and excited for another great tournament; it's going to be a huge challenge."
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