The No. 5 Cavaliers will take on No. 23 Clemson tomorrow at Historic Riggs Field in Clemson for their last regular season game before the ACC Tournament. Virginia is looking to recover from a heartbreaking loss to UNC this past Sunday at home, while Clemson will be trying to continue their recent winning streak.

Virginia’s loss to No. 1 UNC ended a 13-game home winning streak, and marked the final home game of the season. The Cavaliers’ record is now 12-3-2 overall, and 3-2-1 in the ACC. The lone Virginia goal was scored by sophomore midfielder Sarah Huffman in the first half and the game was tied 1-1 at halftime. However, the Tar Heels proved to be too much for Virginia in the second half and the Cavaliers were disappointed by a 3-1 loss.

“It’s not a good feeling to lose,” Huffman said. “Hopefully we can take this feeling and use it to bounce back this weekend.”

Clemson has recently improved their record to 10-5-2 overall, and 3-3-0 in ACC play. They defeated the College of Charleston 6-0 at home Tuesday night. Freshman midfielder Courtney Foster scored three of the goals for the Lady Tigers, recording the 14th hat trick in the school’s history. Other goals were added by sophomore Allison Graham, freshman Amanda Garcia and junior Sarah Turner.

The Lady Tigers offense is lead by Foster, who now has 12 goals and five assists. She was named ACC Player of the Week after her two game-winning goals against Wake Forest and Duke the previous week. Senior goalkeeper Lauren Whitt has recorded nine shutouts this season, and the Clemson defense has remained strong throughout the year.

“Every team in the ACC is going to have a quality offense and defense,” Virginia coach Steve Swanson said. “Clemson is particularly strong in the back, but not much different from a lot of the teams we’ve played.”

Virginia will count on sophomore midfielder Kelly Hammond to lead the offense against Clemson’s strong back line. Hammond is now second in the ACC in goals per game and first in game-winning goals. The offense will also count on consistent performances from Huffman, junior Lindsay Gusick, freshman Shannon Foley and freshman Ariel Thompson.

Senior goalkeeper Anne Abernathy has recorded nine shutouts so far this season, aided by the ever constant defensive line of freshman Becky Sauerbrunn and juniors Katie Bunch, Gillian Hatch and Jessica Trainor.

This road game is very important in determining the seed for the Cavaliers going into the ACC tournament.With a win against the Lady Tigers, Virginia could obtain the second or third seed in the tournament next week. A win against the Cavaliers would secure Clemson the number three seed.

“One thing you need to understand is many of these teams are fighting for their lives at this point,” Swanson said. “It makes the road that much tougher.”

The Virginia players realize how difficult this game could be, despite Clemson’s lower ranking.

“They’re still a really good team and we have had trouble with them in the past,” Hatch said. “Especially coming off our last game it’ll be a huge game for us. To finish the ACC season with a big win like that would be great for us.”

The Virginia volleyball team returns home this weekend to close out its 2003 home schedule. The Cavaliers (20-6, 4-6 ACC) welcome No. 4 Georgia Tech to Memorial Gymnasium tonight for a 7:00 showdown and will entertain the Clemson Tigers tomorrow at 5:00 p.m.

Georgia Tech (22-0, 10-0) currently stands atop the standings in the ACC. The Yellow Jackets will look to continue both their unbeaten streak in the 2003 campaign and their win streak against Virginia, which dates back to the 2000 season. The Cavaliers fell to Yellow Jackets in straight sets in their first meeting this year.

What’s even more intimidating for the Cavaliers is Georgia Tech’s senior setter Kele Eveland who has been named the national player of the week once this season. Her team-high average of 14.89 assists per match is just one of the many roadblocks facing Virginia.

“We’re going into the match with nothing to lose,” Ashcraft said. “No one expects us to do anything, which gives us more freedom to try new things.”

Another hurdle facing the Cavaliers this weekend is Clemson (14-12, 3-7) who also defeated Virginia this year, three sets to one.

For the tide to turn, Virginia likely will have to work around the talents of Clemson’s Lori Ashton and Leslie Finn. Ashton has recorded a team high 121 blocks, averaging 1.22 blocks per game. Defensively, Finn enters tomorrow afternoon’s match with a team high in kills, 427 total and 4.4 kills per match.

Virginia coach Melissa Aldrich Shelton recognizes that any ACC game will be a challenge for the Cavaliers.

“There’s not a match where you can let up,” Shelton said. “You have to bring your best game to the court every time or you’ll get beat.”

Aiding Virginia this weekend in their attempt to topple its two ACC foes will be abnormally high emotions. Not only will Virginia look to avenge their earlier losses to Georgia Tech and Clemson, but tomorrow’s match also will be the final home contest of the Cavalier seniors’ careers.

“It will be emotional,” Ashcraft said. “It’s marking the last stretch of our careers as athletes and volleyball players.”

The group of Virginia seniors taking the Memorial Gym floor for the last time includes Paige Davis, Shannon Boyle and Whitney Ashcraft.

And despite their struggles in the ACC this season, the performance of these three seniors has been significant.

In their most recent game, a loss at Wake Forest in straight sets, senior outside hitter Paige Davis had a team leading 14 kills and a .316 hitting percentage on offense as senior libero Whitney Ashcraft picked up the defense with a match-leading 20 digs. This was Ashcraft’s 24th time this year that she recorded double-digit digs in a match, and her 10th straight match in which she has done so.

With four away games left to finish off Virginia’s regular season, the importance of this final homestand should be pivotal for the Cavaliers. These two games begin the Cavaliers’ tough road to the tournament, and that road begins tonight at 7:00.

Duke men’s and women’s basketball teams will once again start the year as ACC favorites. The two Blue Devil squads were both selected to finish first in the conference this season.

The Virginia men were picked to finish eighth out of the nine ACC squads. Last season the Cavaliers ended the year tied for sixth place after compiling a 6-10 ACC record. The Cavaliers finished 16-16 overall, losing in the second round of the National Invitational Tournament.

The Blue Devils received 53 of the 55 first place votes for 489 points, finishing ahead of rival North Carolina (422) and defending ACC regular-season champion Wake Forest (382). The Tar Heels and Demon Deacons each received one of the remaining first place votes.

N.C. State, Maryland, Florida State and Georgia Tech filled up the fourth through seventh spots, while Clemson was selected to end the season in the basement.

The top five squads each had a player selected to the Preseason All-Conference Team. N.C. State’s Julian Hodge, Florida State’s Tim Pickett, Duke’s J.J. Reddick and Wake Forest’s Vytas Danelius were all selected, preseason Player of the Year selection, North Carolina’s Raymond Felton, rounds out the group. Duke’s Luol Deng was named preseason Rookie of the Year.

On the women’s side, defending champion Duke received all 36 first place votes. The Tar Heels were picked to finish second with the Cavaliers finishing behind them in the voting for third.

Georgia Tech, Florida State, N.C. State, Clemson, Maryland and Wake Forest round out the poll, in that order.

Duke’s Alana Beard, who has won ACC Player of the Year the last two seasons, was the unanimous selection for preseason Player of the Year. Teammate Iciss Tillis, Georgia Tech’s Fallon Stokes, North Carolina’s Nikita Bell and Virginia’s Brandi Teamer join Beard on the preseason All-Conference Team. North Carolina freshman Ivory Latta was named preseason Rookie of the Year.

–Compiled by Sean McLernon

As Virginia travels to Maryland this Halloween afternoon, they will bring with them a frightening 0-3 record in road games this season.

When the Cavaliers (8-7, 3-2 ACC) take the field at No. 2 Maryland (14-1, 4-1) tonight at 8:00, they will have an opportunity to erase the bitter taste of their road struggles this season with sweet victory.

It likely won’t be as easy as taking candy from a baby, however, as Maryland currently stands in first place in the ACC.

In their last time out, the Cavaliers fell 1-0 to the UNC Greensboro Spartans for the first time in the series history. The Cavaliers went down early as Egill Atlason scored at the 5:36 mark in the first half for the Spartans for the game’s only goal.

In road matches this season, Virginia has only produced one goal despite an increased emphasis on taking more shots.

“We’re having trouble scoring goals and we’re not trying to be just this finesse team,” sophomore midfielder Joe Vide said. “We’re starting to shoot from the outside. We know we have our backs against the wall now, so we need to come up with goals and wins.”

Junior forward Mike Littlefield shared the same concerns as Vide.

“I think we realized that we need to take more chances,” Littlefield said. “We’re not scoring enough goals as a team. If we get a look, we need to take a chance from 20 yards out.”

Despite such an up and down season for Virginia, the Cavaliers are still in position to secure the top seed in the ACC Tournament with a win.

A win at Maryland, however, has been no easy task for anyone this season. The Terps are a perfect 9-0 at home and have outscored their opponents by a margin of 23-5.

The Cavaliers’ new philosophy on offense might be their best weapon against Maryland. The Terps have not faced nearly as many shots as they’ve taken, so putting pressure on the defense and junior goalie Noah Palmer may be Virginia’s best chance to overcome the stingy Maryland defense.

Virginia coach George Gelnovatch has continued to try to make a big impact on how his squad approaches every game, and this is especially important with a team that is filled with new faces.

“What I’m trying to stress to my team is that there has to be a certain level of urgency about every game that we play,” Gelnovatch said.

This urgency has never been more important than it is now. With a loss, the Cavaliers would fall to 8-8 and would be in danger of finishing the season below .500 for the first time since the 1980 season, when they finished 8-9-1 overall. But with a win, Virginia would guarantee a record above .500 and would be in prime position for a postseason run at the ACC and NCAA titles.

Along with trying to impress a sense of urgency on his young squad, Gelnovatch is trying to turn the Cavaliers into a possession oriented team.

“We’re always a possession team,” Gelnovatch said. “I have 13 new faces on my team, 10 freshman, and when you try to teach half your team how to possess the ball daily at practice, we’ve been going at it now two months, I can finally see it starting to sink in.”

During tonight’s game, Virginia will have a chance to bring everything together from an uncharacteristically trying season and win the ACC regular season title. For Gelnovatch and the young Cavaliers, this would put the team well above preseason expectations.

The battle is on. Two preseason Heisman hopefuls take the field tomorrow for an in-conference showdown that has the makings of the most exciting ACC game this season. N.C. State quarterback Phillip Rivers leads the stats with an incredible QB rating of 160.6, while Schaub is on his heels with a not-too-shabby 139.7. Both passers are among the top quarterbacks in the country, which could make for an exciting gunslinger tomorrow afternoon.

“I’d say that both teams for four years now have seen the kind of ball in the air that they’re going to see a lot on Saturday,” Virginia coach Al Groh said. “It won’t be any revelation to them that the ball can get there with the accuracy and the timing and the velocity that it does.”

With N.C. State’s pass-happy offense that has gained Phillip Rivers close to 3000 yards this season, the Virginia defense has its work cut out for it. However, as evidenced by their breakthrough performance last year against the Wolfpack, the Virginia defense can definitely rise to the challenge.

Statistically, the Cavaliers have a much stronger ground attack than N.C. State, especially with the full return of Wali Lundy this week. However, the return of Lundy does not mean the strong performance of Alvin Pearman has gone unnoticed.

“We’ll use them both now. Alvin certainly has done remarkably well, and he’s going to continue to get his turns,” Groh said. “The good news of it now is that [Lundy] comes back completely ready to go and with a two-and-a-half week rest on his legs so he ought to have a lot of juice in him now.”

Typically, the philosophy in football is two running backs are not necessarily better than one. However, Pearman, who is more of a speed back, could allow the offense some new options that Lundy, who is more of a power back, would be less suitable for.

N.C. State’s running game has suffered this season with the nagging injuries of all-ACC back T.A. McLendon, who missed the Wolfpack’s last game against Duke with a torn meniscus.

“I think it is very, very doubtful.” N.C. State coach Chuch Amato said when asked if McLendon would play tomorrow against the Cavaliers. Backup back Josh Brown is also out with an injury.

The Cavaliers average 53 more rushing yards a game than their opponent, and a continued strong running attack will allow Virginia to keep possession of the ball and control the clock, which will be a key factor in limiting the production of Philip Rivers.

“We can’t let them get off to a fast start. We have to slow Rivers down before he can get started,” Almondo Curry said. “We have to dictate the game. We have to play on our terms instead of theirs.”

Another key to tomorrow afternoon’s shootout will be Virginia’s defense, which played very well and was able to stop Rivers and his high scoring offense in last year’s game. This season, Virginia has let up only 16 points per game. In order to continue this trend, the Cavaliers need to keep pressure on Rivers.

The Virginia defense runs a fairly unique scheme that N.C. State does not see much of outside of its games against the Cavaliers. This has advantages and disadvantages for the Cavaliers. The Cavaliers will not have very much film to watch to get a feel for what sort of blocking schemes the Wolfpack might throw at them.

“With us, sometimes the only tape we can look at to see the opponent against a similar scheme as ours is when they played us the year previous,” Groh said. “There’s a lot more advantages to that than there are disadvantages, because they’ve got one week to prepare for it and the same old ideas don’t hold true, they’ve got to do other things.”

Both teams were preseason favorites, and now both teams are battling for their seasons. Tied for second place in the ACC, both squads are out for blood, and the showdown between Rivers and Schaub has the makings of an instant classic.

The Cavaliers hope to find their scoring touch when they play No. 17 Boston College today. Virginia will also play No. 2 Duke Sunday.

The games are the last of the regular season for Virginia (9-8, 0-4 ACC) before the ACC tournament begins. Boston College (12-5) is coming off a 5-3 win over New Hampshire and Virginia is wary of the Eagles’ attacking potential.

“We’re focused on playing Boston College and on how they move their ball,” senior forward Katie Nicholson said. “We need to defend better against them. Boston College has been known to be an aggressive, feisty team, so since we are playing them here we have to take it to them. A win today will also help us into Sunday’s big game.”

The Cavaliers haven’t had that much luck in the ACC this season, losing all four games. Duke (15-2, 1-2) will offer one more opportunity for Virginia to grab its first ACC win after losing 5-1 to No. 1 Wake Forest last weekend.

Katie Nicholson said lack of focus in the later stages of the match against Wake caused the heavy loss.

“The first half looked really good but we had a lack of focus at the last minute,” she said. “We need to string everything together and keep focused for this game.”

In both contests, Virginia’s defense will be severely tested as both opposing teams are coming off of victories. The Blue Devils have the number one ranked offense in the country and look to obtain the third seed for next week’s tournament with a win.

Junior goalkeeper Logan Carr said defense is the key in this weekend’s mathcups.

“Boston College is a strong opponent; they’re a ranked team,” she said. “We could really use beating a ranked team right now. We’re going to try to use things that we didn’t do as well with against Wake. We’ve being working on individual defense.”

Logan also said recent exposure to top quality teams like Wake has caused the team to improve.

“By playing against that elite level we have become a better team,” she said. “We’re focused on stepping up the play and will have to concentrate on ball movement and working off one another.” The Eagles and the Blue Devils will provide the best opportunity for Virginia to gauge how well they have improved over the past couple of games. It will also be a litmus test for the Cavaliers’ chances at the ACC tournament on Nov. 6-9 which Virginia will host.

A win against Duke over the weekend will ensure that the Cavaliers play the Blue Devils again in the first game of the tournament.

Defense and offense aside, crowd support will be crucial in determining if Virginia comes through this tough weekend unscathed and Nicholson said crowd attendance this weekend “should help us out.”

Earlier this week, Senate Democrats offered a plan to punish states that cut spending to colleges and universities. This is in contrast to a House Republican plan, which would penalize individual colleges and universities that increase tuition too high. Under the Republican plan, schools that increase tuition more than their “affordability index” could lose federal aid.

The Democratic plan would make students from states that cut higher education funding by more than 10 percent a year ineligible for $15 billion in proposed financial aid increases. The proposals may differ greatly, but the Democrats’ plan is just as fatally flawed as the Republicans’.

The justification for the Democratic plan comes from the fear that many states are grossly underfunding higher education. If Congress is providing students with more financial aid, they don’t want the states to view this increased aid as a license to cut spending. In this way, the Democrats in Congress are trying to put in place an institutional disincentive to prevent state governments from slashing education budgets.

However, it’s not proper for the federal government to dictate this — education is a policy realm traditionally left up to the states. If the federal government has decided that it wants to address the affordability of tuition and wants to provide financial aid, it should do so in a way that doesn’t coerce state action.

There certainly are examples where the federal government has placed mandates on states. For instance, the federal government has appropriated transportation funds to the states on the condition that the state governments implement standards on speed limits and drunk driving. Just because an area of policy has been limited to the states doesn’t mean that the federal government is precluded from setting some policy guidelines.

But while it’s somewhat shaky at best to use transportation funds to influence state policy, it’s downright dangerous to use financial aid to achieve political ends. The states that don’t comply may be punished indirectly, through the higher cost of education for its residents. However, it’s no mystery that the students themselves — who most likely had no role in setting policy — are the ones who are directly hurt. Why punish the students when the state governments are the ones at fault?

The reason, of course, is because that is one of the few ways in which the federal government would be able to coerce state policy toward higher education. But the problem is that there’s very little to suggest that this plan will work. In states where spending for higher education drops 10 percent or more, the people of the state will suffer — that’s $15 billion for which they’re not eligible.

But there’s no substantial mechanism in place for ensuring that the state legislators are held accountable. The effectiveness of the Democrats’ plan rests upon the ability of voters to connect the actions of state legislatures as a whole to the financial aid ineligibilities. And even if voters are able to make this connection, state legislators can always make the case that Congress is to blame for their plight. The disconnect is too great to justify the high potential costs of ineligibility for a large portion of federal financial aid.

The federal government wants to do what it can to try to stop plummeting higher education support and skyrocketing tuition rates. However, Congress shouldn’t be using financial aid as a tool to control state policy, and they certainly shouldn’t be doing so at the expense of students themselves. As with the Republican plan unveiled last month, the Democratic financial aid plan is a misguided solution to higher education woes.

The enactment of the first-ever system-wide policy banning sexual or romantic relationships between faculty and students in University of California school system could lead to an increasing number of restrictions at other universities, said Abby Lunardini, a spokesperson for the UC Office of the President.

Lundardini also said she expects other universities to adopt broader, more cohesive policies banning faculty-student relationships in the future.

“I know that nationwide there have been an increasing number of colleges drafting policies and everyone is handling it differently,” she said. “I think we are starting to see a move in that general direction.”

The policy was put in full effect this fall after receiving approval from the UC Academic Senate last May. The amendment prohibits professors from engaging in amorous relationships with students they oversee or could oversee in the future.

Other universities which have bans on faculty-student relationships include Harvard, Yale, Stanford and the University of Virginia.

The College of William & Mary implemented one of the strictest policies which prohibits consensual relationships between all undergraduate students and faculty members in 2001, according to William Walker, William & Mary associate vice president for public affairs.

William & Mary enacted the policy after the publication of a “tell-all” article in GQ magazine in which a former William & Mary professor told his story. He described his affair with a married student whose husband subsequently committed suicide.

“We had the impetus of the GQ article,” Walker said. “The fact that [the policy] had faculty support was the key — if it threatens the academic enterprise, then people get fairly serious about it.”

According to Walker, since the enactment of the new policy there have not been any new cases of faculty-student relationships.

“These cases, while they get a lot of visibility, are really few and far between,” Walker said. “At the time this policy was instituted we looked at how many had been reported and it had been a handful. I can’t recall any other coming to light after that, although this is not the sort of thing people often bring forward.”

In 1993, University administrators discussed banning all consensual sexual relationships between professors and students. Instead, faculty decided to revise the University’s conflict-of-interest policy, which now states that faculty members should “avoid engaging in sexual relationships with or making sexual overtures to students over whom they are in a position of authority.”

“[The policy] does not forbid relationships,” University spokesperson Carol Wood said. “Our policy was written up because it was the faculty that brought it up some time ago.”

Numerous objections can arise when bans on faculty-student relationship are discussed. Many argue that it violates the constitutional right to free association, and other people cite instances where relationships between faculty and students are successful, Faculty Senate Chair Robert Davis said

“You get into tricky areas,” he said. “Where do graduate students fall in the hierarchy? Faculty can meet graduate students and have long term relationships, get married and have a family.”

According to Davis, the University’s policy intentionally is less strict than those adopted at other schools.

“The current policy makes a whole lot of sense to me,” Davis said. “You don’t want to limit people’s behavior, but you certainly don’t want to put people in a comprising situation — we are talking about delicate issues here.”

Changes to the University Housing Division’s assignment process for the upcoming year will make it easier for first-year students to acquire their desired housing choices, officials said yesterday.

Last year, upperclassmen who wanted to switch rooms or housing locations did so in a phase prior to first-year students in the Alderman and McCormick dorms applying for housing, according to Director of Accommodations John Evans.

This year, upperclassmen who wish to switch rooms will enter a lottery for priority assignment at the same time as first-year students, which will be conducted after Jan. 16.

Upperclassmen who wish to retain their current room assignment will be able to do so by resigning their housing contract no later than Dec. 5.

“It doesn’t force any upperclassmen out, but it means that anybody changing rooms, which includes all the rising second years, go in on an equal footing,” Evans said. “It should mean more of the first years get their first choice” location and are able to keep their groups together more easily.

Evans added, though, that the application process change will make it more difficult for upperclass students to acquire their first housing choice if they decide to change locations.

“Their chances won’t be as good as they were in the past,” he said.

The change in the housing application procedure comes as part of a larger effort by the Office of Residence Life to retain more second-year students in on-Grounds housing and to create more social and academic programming opportunities for all students residing on Grounds, Director of Residence Life Angela M. Davis said.

“We’re trying to make sure the kinds of programs and services we give to upperclass students, especially second-year students, are enhanced,” Davis said. “We’re trying to assess their academic and programmatic needs so that we can develop support services and enhanced programs for them in on-Grounds housing.”

Co-Chair of Residence Staff Jen Ramirez said a program sponsored by Residence Life, “Hoo Needs Housing?” held earlier in October included both representatives from the Housing Division, who reassured second-year students that on-Grounds housing is readily available, and employees from local rental agencies.

Davis blamed some local realtors for leading first-year students to inaccurately believe that they must move off Grounds because the University does not have enough housing for them.

“It doesn’t help that the outside landlords put a lot of pressure on students, and I think inappropriately get them to think they had to go off Grounds or they wouldn’t have a chance to stay on,” she said.

Second-year College student Clinton Fuller said while the new process may make it more difficult for upperclassmen who hope to change their on-Grounds assignments, he feels the change is appropriate.

“Though [the change] certainly seems like it could be a hassle for me, I don’t see why upperclassmen should receive preferential treatment with regard to housing anyways,” Fuller said. “If [my friends] decide to switch it up, it seems we ought to be given a fair chance, but not preferential treatment.”

As Halloween night nears, pumpkins cropped up on Lawn room steps and in front of the Pavilions. Hundreds of children will descend on the Lawn tonight for the annual trick-or-treat marathon, which can cost Lawn residents upward of $80.