In her 23rd season as coach of the Virginia women's basketball team, Debbie Ryan has seen a lot of great teams.
In the midst of a two-game winning streak that has kept hopes of an NCAA Tournament berth alive, the Virginia men's basketball team (17-8, 7-5 ACC) faces a daunting task Sunday when they travel to North Carolina to face the Tar Heels (16-9, 7-4). The excitement of the Cavaliers' earlier home victory over the Tar Heels has been tempered by the fact that the Cavs have never won at the Dean Smith Center.
Third-year forward Svetlana Volnaya scored 22 points on 4-of-4 three-point shooting in Virginia women's basketball's 72-63 victory over ACC rival Clemson last night at Littlejohn Coliseum. Forward Lisa Hosac and guard Telisha Quarles both shot 3-for-5 from long range to lead the Cavalier charge.
When Laura Gaworecki was deciding where she wanted to play collegiate soccer two years ago, she met plenty of coaches.
Related Links Virginia softball   The Virginia softball team was voted second in the ACC Preseason Coaches Poll Monday, finishing five points behind two-time defending Conference champion Florida State. The five ACC head coaches gave the Cavaliers 18 points in the poll, including one first-place vote.
First-year phenoms are media magnets in this era of college sports.
The moon was nearly full and the sky was mostly dark as the Virginia baseball team tried to squint its way to victory against Old Dominion in yesterday's home opener.
For a man whose facial expression never changed, whose steely, 1,000-yard stare terrified even Mike Ditka, Tom Landry always looked a little peculiar with a brushed suede fedora atop his balding head. Maybe his unbending calm for 29 seasons along the Dallas Cowboys sideline rendered the hat a bit odd.
The Virginia wrestling team rebounded quite nicely from a loss to Virginia Tech last weekend, destroying Maryland last night at Memorial Gymnasium, 27-10. The Cavaliers (3-5, 1-1) won their first ACC match of the season by stealing seven of the 10 bouts on the night against the rival Terrapins (4-2, 2-1). The seven Cav victories included a pin by first year Steve Mazzola and major decisions by second year Ryan McGrath and fifth years Steve Garland and John Pozniak. "We wrestled really well," Virginia Coach Lenny Bernstein said.
Trying to guess how the Virginia baseball team will fare this season is a difficult task at best.
As my collegiate sports writ ing career comes to a close, I am constantly asked about my future plans in the sports world.
Most people know the ACC boasts powerhouse programs in football, basketball and even soccer. ACC fans should not forget about baseball, though. Baseball America ranks four Conference teams in the Top 25 - Florida State (1), Georgia Tech (8), Clemson (19) and North Carolina (20) - proving the ACC is one of the nation's most challenging conferences. "The ACC is gonna be a difficult league this year," Tar Heel Coach Mike Fox said.
What a difference one month and the addition of Adam Hall can make. Coach Pete Gillen benched Hall for the duration of the last meeting between the two teams for still undisclosed reasons.
This, evidently, is what 10-on-1 basketball looks like. Clemson had Will Solomon, the ACC's leading scorer, but Virginia's overwhelming depth was more than enough for a comfortable 76-62 win last night at University Hall. Third-year floor general Donald Hand poured in 21 points to lead four Cavs in double figures, while swingman Adam Hall smothered Solomon, limiting the sophomore guard to 13 largely meaningless points. "That was the best defense we've played in a long time," Cavalier Coach Pete Gillen said.
Renee Robinson can get out of control. Just ask her teammates. Ask her coach. The fourth-year Virginia point guard can yell, scream and taunt with the best of them.
Now that the Cavalier men's basketball team has claimed sole possession of fourth place in the Conference with Saturday's 88-82 victory over N.C.
After emerging from my one-year tour of duty as Sports Editor for this publication, I decided to return to the real world and - for only about the fifth time in two years - actually attend a men's basketball game as a fan.
The North Carolina basketball teams grabbed half of this week's ACC honors as shooting guards Joseph Forte and Nikki Teasley were named Men's Rookie of the Week and Women's Player of the Week, respectively. Forte scored 40 points in the Tar Heel wins against N.C.
Renee Robinson's tie-breaking foul shot with 0.4 seconds left capped a 57-55 victory over Arkansas State yesterday, giving Virginia women's Coach Debbie Ryan her 520th win in her 700th career game. The victory boosted the Cavs' record to 19-6 overall.
Don't call it a comeback, just call it coming home. After dropping three consecutive away games, the Virginia men's basketball team returned to University Hall Saturday night ready to plays with home-court advantage against N.C.
