The Skinny on weekend competition for Virginia’s baseball, men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s tennis, women’s basketball and track and field teams. Full previews for men’s basketball and softball can be found online and in the Thursday print edition of The Cavalier Daily.
Baseball
What: The Ripken Experience: No. 1 Virginia (7-0) vs. Hartford (2-1), Seton Hall (0-3) and Cornell (0-3)
Where: Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
When: Friday-Sunday
The Skinny: Once again, poor field conditions have pushed Virginia baseball south for the weekend.
The Cavaliers will play a round-robin tournament against Hartford, Seton Hall and Cornell. The Big Red (0-3) were added after the change in venue.
Virginia continues to cruise through the early portion of its schedule. Last weekend, the Cavaliers continued their pursuit of perfection by winning three games against Marist and one against La Salle.
Virginia’s three weekend starters have been dominant thus far. Sophomore Connor Jones and juniors Nathan Kirby and Brandon Waddell have combined for a 4-0 record and a miniscule 0.81 ERA. Likewise, the bullpen has been watertight, collecting four saves and three wins. As a unit, the Cavalier pitching staff leads the nation with a 1.13 earned run average.
So far, the freshman-heavy offense has yet to fail, with an average of 6.43 runs per game. Freshman Pavin Smith leads all batters with a .414 average and is tied with two others for the most home runs. However, they face one of their first true tests of the season against Hartford, which boasts the 14th-best ERA in the NCAA.
—compiled by Matthew Wurzburger
Indoor Track and Field
What: ACC Indoor Championships
Where: Blacksburg, Virginia
When: Thursday-Saturday
The Skinny: Cavalier track and field athletes compete this weekend at the 2015 ACC Championships in Blacksburg, Virginia. The championships start Thursday and conclude Saturday.
In 54 tries, the men have never won a team championship. Meanwhile, Clemson, Maryland and Florida State have combined for 48 titles. The women’s team won their first and only championship in 1987, when Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On a Prayer” topped the Billboard chart.
Though history isn’t on their side, Virginia athletes “live for the fight.” This season, they’ve broken a number of school records — so often that it’s an expectation every week — and held their own against the nation’s best. ACC top-performance rankings also reveal a simple truth — if Cavalier athletes bring their A-game to Blacksburg, they’ll be in a position to succeed.
Senior Jordan Lavender (women’s 400 meter and 200 meter), graduate student Morgan Kelly (5,000-meter run), sophomore Christine Bohan (women’s shot put), senior Payton Hazzard (men’s 400 meter) and sophomores Nathan Kiley (800 meter), Jordan Young (men’s weight throw and shot put), Filip Mihaljevic (shot put) and Thomas Madden (5,000 meter) are all top four in the individual ACC top-performance rankings. The men’s distance medley relay — Hazzard, Kiley, junior Kyle King and sophomore Mike Marsella — ranks third for its Feb. 26 time of 9:32.36.
—compiled by Grant Gossage
Men’s Lacrosse
What: No. 5 Virginia (3-0) vs. No. 3 Syracuse (3-0)
Where: Carrier Dome in Syracuse, New York
When: Sunday, 12 p.m.
The Skinny: The Virginia men’s lacrosse team will renew its traditional early-season rivalry with Syracuse Sunday in the conference opener for both teams.
While the Cavaliers have fared well in their early-season tests, notching victories against two ranked opponents, they have not faced a more explosive and balanced team than the Orange will field this weekend.
Syracuse is averaging a whopping 15.67 goals per game — including a 21-goal outing in its season-opening win against Siena – while surrendering just more than seven per game.
Sophomore midfielder Ben Williams is among the nation’s best at the faceoff X. The reigning ACC Defensive Player of the Week seized 21 of 25 faceoffs Sunday against Army. Williams has won over 70 percent of his attempts on the season, which could pose a severe problem for a Cavalier team that has won the faceoff battle once this year.
On offense, Syracuse is led by junior attackman Dylan Donahue, who earned ACC Offensive Player of the Week earlier this season and took home ACC Player of the Week for his five-goal performance against Army. At the other end of the field, senior defenseman Sean Young – a preseason All-American – took home both conference and national defensive player of the week honors for his efforts against Cornell.
A year ago, Virginia toppled the Orange, 17-12, on a Saturday night at Klöckner Stadium. It was the ninth Cavalier win against Syracuse in the teams’ past 12 regular-season meetings, although Virginia fell in overtime, 9-8, in its last trip to the Carrier Dome.
Sunday’s game will air on ESPNU.
—compiled by Robert Elder
Men’s Tennis
What: No. 11 Virginia (7-1) vs. No. 5 Baylor (8-2)
Where: Waco, Texas
When: Sunday, 2 p.m.
The Skinny: The 11th-ranked Virginia men’s tennis team, which is coming off a shocking quarterfinals exit from the ITA National Team Indoors, travels to Waco, Texas this weekend for a rematch with the fifth-ranked Baylor Bears.
The Bears (8-2) knocked off the Cavaliers in Chicago in nail-biting fashion, but only seem to have gotten stronger since then, having blanked 55th-ranked Purdue and 12th-ranked UCLA in the past week for their fourth and fifth shutouts of the season.
Although the Cavaliers (7-1) suffered a setback last week, they still boast the top two singles players in the nation in sophomore Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and junior Ryan Shane, standout competitors who can set the tone early if they can convincingly win their matches.
As shown at the National Team Indoors, however, collegiate tennis is very much a team sport and the Cavaliers’ top two doubles teams, ranked 54th and 55th nationally, will have to carry their weight against strong Baylor doubles squads if Virginia is to have a shot at reasserting its national prominence and taking down the Bears.
Sunday’s match will take place at 2 p.m. on Baylor’s campus in Waco, the site of this year’s NCAA Championships.
—compiled by Jacob Hochberger
Women’s Basketball
What: Virginia (16-12, 6-9 ACC) vs. No. 8 Louisville (24-4, 12-3 ACC)
Where: John Paul Jones Arena
When: Sunday, 1 p.m.
The Skinny: After losing in the last second on the road to No. 15 North Carolina Thursday night, the Virginia women’s basketball team returns home to face No. 8 Louisville in its regular season finale. The Cavaliers are looking for their first win against a top-25 team.
Virginia senior center Sarah Imovbioh is also looking for her first rebounding title. Entering Thursday night, Imovbioh was tied with Wake Forest senior forward Dearica Hamby for second in the league in rebounds per game at 10.7. She had 12 rebounds in the loss against Carolina, while Hamby had eight against Miami. The league leader, Syracuse sophomore center Briana Day, secured 10 Thursday night.
Imovbioh had 15 rebounds in Virginia and Louisville’s first meeting of the season in January, but Louisville is third in the league in rebounding margin, averaging 8.6 more than its opponents. In the last matchup, the Cardinals dominated the Cavaliers down low, scoring 52 of their 67 points in the paint. Eleven of their other 15 points came at the free throw line.
Louisville bounced back with a 77-60 win against Boston College Thursday night after losing to No. 4 Notre Dame, 68-52, in its previous game.
—compiled by Chanhong Luu
Women’s Lacrosse
What: No. 8 Virginia (1-2, 0-1 ACC) vs. No. 9 Penn State (3-0)
Where: University Park, Pennsylvania
When: Saturday, 3 p.m.
The Skinny: The Virginia women’s lacrosse team completes the last leg of a four-game road trip Saturday afternoon when it faces No. 9 Penn State.
Playing a ranked opponent is nothing new for the Cavaliers, who have already played two other top-25 teams. In all, the Cavaliers’ 16-game schedule features 11 teams currently in the top 25.
Virginia has yet to win against a ranked opponent. The Cavaliers lost to No. 6 Northwestern to start the season and No. 3 Syracuse Monday, but both losses were by a single goal.
Senior attackers Liza Blue and Casey Bocklet have each scored a total of 10 points on six goals and four assists to lead Virginia through three games. Blue has also won seven draw controls, which is second on the team to senior midfielder Courtney Swan’s nine.
Penn State, on the other hand, has neither played a ranked team nor competed outside the state of Pennsylvania this season. The Nittany Lions have allowed only two goals in their last two games.
Sophomore midfielder Steph Lazo and senior attacker Maggie McCormick lead Penn State on offense. Lazo has 10 goals this season, while McCormick has five goals and a team-high six assists.
—compiled by Chanhong Luu
Women’s Tennis
What: No. 5 Virginia (7-2, 1-0 ACC) vs. Pittsburgh (2-5, 0-2 ACC); vs. No. 26 Notre Dame (6-3, 2-0 ACC)
Where: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Notre Dame, Indiana
When: Friday, 2 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m.
The Skinny: The No. 5 Virginia women’s tennis team will continue ACC play this weekend with two matches on the road. The Cavaliers will travel to Pittsburgh Friday before finishing their weekend Sunday at No. 26 Notre Dame.
Virginia (7-2, 1-0 ACC) opened up ACC play last weekend with a 6-1 victory over No. 34 Syracuse. The team was scheduled to face Boston College last weekend as well, but snow and other inclement conditions postponed the match, which is now set for April 1 in Charlottesville.
The Cavaliers are 1-0 all-time against Pittsburgh (2-5, 0-2 ACC), whom they faced for the first time last year in the Panthers’ inaugural season as a member of the ACC. Against Notre Dame, Virginia is 2-1 all-time, with a 6-1 win at home last season.
The ITA ranks four of the Virginia’s six starters in singles. Junior Julia Elbaba is No. 1 in the nation. Junior Stephanie Nauta is No. 27, followed by junior Danielle Collins at No. 32 and junior Maci Epstein at No. 108. In doubles, freshman Cassie Mercer and junior Skylar Morton are ranked No. 23, while Elbaba and Nauta are ranked No. 42.
The Pittsburgh match is set to start at 2 p.m. Friday, and the Notre Dame match will begin at 11 a.m. Sunday. Both matches can be followed online, with live scoring on VirginiaSports.com.
—compiled by Daniel Fisher
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