Undefeated and ranked No. 1 nationally, the Virginia men's tennis team continues its quest for an undefeated season Friday at No. 10 North Carolina and Sunday at No. 41 Duke.
Only four games remain in the regular season for Virginia (21-0, 7-0 ACC). The Cavaliers' continued success has resulted not only in national acclaim for the whole team, but also for individuals and doubles teams. Five of Virginia's six singles players are ranked in the top 125 in the national polls, and all three of its regularly competing doubles tandems are ranked in the top 40.
Virginia coach Brian Boland has put together a team that has played on a championship-caliber level. This weekend's opponents, however, will provide true challenges for the Cavaliers.
"We're excited about this weekend," Boland said. "We play two very good teams in North Carolina and Duke. It should be good."
North Carolina (15-3, 5-0 ACC) boasts a resume of convincing victories, including wins against impressive squads from No. 9 Florida State and No. 15 Baylor. Virginia, however, has also beaten those two teams and has blown out teams with even higher national rankings.
Duke (7-9, 4-2 ACC) has also received attention from national pollsters despite a losing record. The Blue Devils have won two consecutive ACC matches, both 7-0 shutouts against unranked Boston College and No. 59 Maryland.
Among the more intriguing matchups this weekend will be Virginia's No. 1 doubles team, seniors Somdev Devvarman and Treat Huey, versus North Carolina's No. 4 pairing of junior Taylor Fogleman and sophomore Chris Kearney.
Friday's and Sunday's conference matches mark the last road trip of the season for Virginia. The four senior Cavaliers have less than two weeks remaining of dual meets and less than two months until they hang up their Cavalier jerseys for good. Among these four is Devvarman, who will look for his 23rd and 24th singles wins in a row to break his old record of 23.
"There are times when [Devvarman] surprises us, most recently with his performance against Daniel Vallverdu from Miami," Boland said of Devvarman's 6-0, 6-1 victory against No. 5 Vallverdu during a March 28 match. "At the same time, he still keeps getting better with every practice."
Devvarman is not the only Cavalier who has shown consistently strong play recently. Virginia's team has shown depth throughout the season and has won every match since Feb. 18 by at least three points.
Another recent standout has been freshman Michael Shabaz. A highly acclaimed recruit coming out of high school, Shabaz has overcome a fall season in which he struggled with injuries.
"With more practice sets, I feel more comfortable, for sure," Shabaz said. "I'm just getting better every day."
The Cavaliers' depth has allowed the team to develop a methodical consistency of dismantling opponents. Virginia has done this despite a very difficult schedule: All but three of its 21 victories have been against top-50 teams and seven have been against top-10 teams.
This weekend's matches against the Blue Devils and the Tar Heels will once again require Virginia to perform well on the road against talented opponents, but the Cavaliers are no strangers to winning in hostile environments.
Whether the Cavaliers slip up in closing weeks of the dual meet season or keep up their winning ways, they will go into the postseason poised to make a splash in postseason tournaments and perhaps a run at a national title.
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