The Cavaliers will look to translate the success from their undefeated regular season into a conference title in this weekend's ACC Championship.
Virginia (25-0, 11-0 ACC), ranked No. 1 in the country and seeded first in the tournament, will play its first match of the tournament Friday at 9 a.m. against N.C. State. The Wolfpack (11-13, 4-7 ACC) have the No. 8 seed and edged Boston College 4-3 Thursday morning for a chance to play against the heavily favored Cavaliers.
Virginia defeated N.C. State in the second to last match of their regular-season schedule, a 5-2 Cavalier victory April 11. If the Cavaliers tame the Wolfpack for the second time this season, their next match will be in the semifinals Saturday. Wake Forest, Virginia Tech and Clemson are all possible opponents. If there are no upsets, the fourth-seeded Demon Deacons will take the other spot in the semifinal match.
Should the Cavaliers, who have won six of the past seven ACC Championships, continue to advance, potential opponents in Sunday's final include the second-seeded North Carolina and third-seeded Florida State, who are ranked nationally at No. 11 and No. 10 respectively.
Leading the Cavaliers' charge for an ACC Championship will be senior Somdev Devvarman, who was selected Thursday as the 2008 ACC Player of the Year. Devvarman's season has been one of the most decorated in recent years for Virginia tennis. Devvarman won each of his matchups in dual matches, posted a 35-1 overall singles record, spent most of the season ranked No. 1 in the nation and partnered with fellow senior Treat Huey to form the college's top-ranked doubles tandem.
"We still have two big things to go," Devvarman said, referring to this weekend's ACC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament, beginning with regionals May 9. "We have to put [the undefeated regular season] behind us and move on."
Also earning a significant conference award was Virginia coach Brian Boland, who was selected as the ACC Coach of the Year.
Boland, like Devvarman, seemed more concerned with focusing on the upcoming postseason tournaments than celebrating the team's regular-season success.
"We treat every match the same," Boland said. "We have all year long -- that will never change."
Devvarman is not the only player on the Cavaliers' roster to earn ACC accolades. Huey and freshman Sanam Singh, along with Devvarman, were selected as All-ACC players.
All season long, the Cavaliers have displayed depth, with even some young players such as Singh and his fellow freshman, Michael Shabaz, performing very well.
"We have a couple young guys who play key roles on our team," Devvarman said. "For them to get the message and work hard the way they have, the younger guys are really stepping up."
Another area of excellence for the Cavaliers has been doubles play.
"We've had a lot of success with those doubles teams," Boland said. "I don't anticipate a change, but certainly with as much depth as we have, things could come up and we might have to make some adjustments throughout the course of the tournament. At this point, we are very happy with where we are in doubles."
In a conference as deep as the ACC, whose last-place team, Clemson, is ranked No. 69 in the nation, the Cavaliers will have to match the consistency they showed during the regular season to walk away from this weekend's tournament with its seventh conference championship in eight seasons.
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