Following its second most successful regular season since ACC play began in 1987, No. 2 seeded Virginia begins its conference tournament at noon today against seventh seeded Virginia Tech (11-7, 4-5 ACC).

This season has, thus far, been one of pleasant surprises for the Cavaliers. Picked in the preseason to finish third in the ACC behind North Carolina and Florida State, Virginia has surpassed expectations compiling a 14-2-1 overall record and a 6-2-1 ACC mark, finishing a close second to UNC. Key victories over Florida State, UCLA and Duke (who have all been ranked in the top 10 at some point this season), have greatly increased expectations as the Cavaliers begin postseason play today.

“I think we are really excited,” sophomore midfielder Shannon Foley said. “This is what we’ve been working for. We really want to do well and keep going.”

Since defeating N.C. State 3-0 last Wednesday to cap off a perfect home record, Virginia has had a week of rest in preparation for the start of tournament play. With only five healthy reserves on Virginia’s bench, the Cavaliers should benefit greatly from the extra time off. Virginia’s track record in the conference tournament has been anything but stellar in recent years (zero championship appearances in the past four seasons), something the team attributes to a lack of preparation time.

“I know last year, I felt like we were banged up going into the ACC tournament,” Virginia coach Steve Swanson said. “It’s no excuse, but you really have to go into that tournament a little bit fresh and be healthy if you are going to try and win it.”

In addition to being healthy, a favorable tournament draw should benefit the Cavaliers this weekend. If they continue to win, the Cavaliers will not have to face a team that they haven’t already beaten until the final round. In the first round, Virginia faces in-state rival Virginia Tech, who they defeated 3-0 in Charlottesville earlier this season.

Tech “is going to play aggressive,” senior defender Jamie Fabrizio said. “It was a good game the last time we played them, and now they have nothing to lose. They already won their first game, so they are going to come out hard.”

In the first match between these schools just two weeks ago, junior Sarah Huffman had a season-defining game, scoring two goals while controlling the pace of the game and dominating Tech’s inexperienced midfield. On the season, Huffman is third on the team in points, notching four goals and 11 assists. But maybe more importantly, Huffman is part of a Cavalier defense that has been indisputably one of the best in the country. Virginia’s defense has allowed an ACC-low eight totals goals in 17 games. For her performances, Huffman was named the ACC’s Defensive Player of the Year earlier this week.

If the Cavaliers are able to get past Virginia Tech today, strong defensive play will be key to venturing deep into the weekend. A second round matchup would feature either Florida State or Clemson. While the Seminoles and the Tigers have spent significant time this season in the Top 25, both were shutout by the Cavaliers in their previous meeting. Looking even further, a rematch against North Carolina in the championship game is a distinct possibility.

“I know personally, I want to play UNC again,” Foley said. “I’m really hoping they get to the finals and we get to the finals we get to play them again.”

Whatever happens this weekend, Virginia will almost definitely receive a top seed in the NCAA tournament and will, in all likelihood, host multiple early round games at Klöckner. But if past ACC tournament results are used as motivation, Virginia will not be looking beyond this weekend and may just surprise a few new people.

The Atlantic Coast Conference named Virginia swimmers Luke Anderson and Katy Bland as the ACC Swimming and Diving Performers of the Week yesterday.

Anderson, a senior who won five races in Virginia’s meet last week, helped lead the No. 12 Cavalier men to victories against Clemson and Penn State. The All-American won both the 100- and 200-yard individual freestyle events, and also swam legs of Virginia’s victorious 400 medley and 400 freestyle relay teams. Anderson’s 44.78 second time in the 100 meter freestyle qualified him to swim at the NCAA B tournament.

Bland, a sophomore, won all six races in which she swam last weekend, leading the women to dual victories as well. She posted two NCAA B qualifying times in the 100 freestyle and 200 freestyle against Penn State, and won the 50 freestyle against Clemson.

The Cavalier men’s and women’s swimming teams will travel to Purdue’s Boilermaker Challenge Friday and Saturday.

Highly-touted Virginia guard Sean Singletary came in second place in the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Preseason Rookie of the Year voting. Singletary received seven votes, two ahead of Duke’s DeMarcus Nelson.

Marvin Williams of North Carolina dominated the voting, receiving 60 votes.

Singletary, a 6-foot point man from Philadelphia, earned All-City Player of the Year and first-team All-State honors for his performance senior year.

In past years, Virginia’s annual golfing trip to Hawaii was a time for the team to relax, bond and enjoy the beach-lined greens on the island’s North Shore. But that was before the arrival of new golfing coach Bowen Sargent.

Last year, the Cavaliers seemed resigned to their status as a mediocre team trying to eke out finishes in the top half of tournament fields. After posting middle of the pack results in tournaments both last fall and this spring, including a dismal eighth place finish at the ACC championship in April, it was a time for a change.

Sargent, last year’s National Assistant Coach of the Year at Tennessee, arrived in August to take over the Virginia golf program. A former N.C. State All-American golfer, Sargent sought to establish consistency and commitment for the Cavalier golfers.

“We’re looking for a strong commitment level,” Sargent said. “We want them to identify their weakness and practice really hard. The guys this year are really focused on winning and they’re finally starting to realize their ability.”

While the old staff emphasized driving and distance hitting, the new coaching staff has emphasized the little things to give the Cavaliers a new edge to their game. The team has even emphasized fitness and weight training.

“Bowen has come in and he’s helped a lot in making us better,” junior Brad Tilley said. “We spend so much time on working on putting and on wedges. We work really hard on 125 [yards] and in.”

The team has worked on gaining a margin of error when their longer drives go somewhat astray. According to Sargent, the new emphasis on commitment and reliability has begun to pay off. Under Sargent, senior Kevin O’Connell has blossomed into what he called “a model of consistency,” finishing at par or better at every tournament this fall.

“Kevin’s been our most solid performer,” Sargent said. “He’s been on pace to have an All-American year at this point in the season. He’s finished in the top 25 of every tournament so far. He’s worked hard, and to see him play well is gratifying as a coach.”

After a strong summer of training and gaining experience, and an influx of talent in recruits Greg Carlin and Carter Henderson, the squad now has a depth it lacked last year, when the team’s fourth or fifth starter changed almost every game.

“Everyone is a little older,” O’Connell said. “We were still pretty young last year. It’s kind of a fresh start.”

The combination of new coaching, depth and experience has yet to meld together into a tournament win for the Cavaliers. But Virginia has been far closer than in recent years, finishing third at Franklin Trust Invitational at Chapel Hill and fourth at Tennessee’s Tournament of Champions in Knoxville. This week at Hawaii, winning is the only thing on the Cavaliers’ minds, and after one day of play, the team stood in fourth place.

“Who wouldn’t want to go to Hawaii?” Tilley said. “We’re going to get there and work hard. We want to close out with a win. It’s hard not to go there and get distracted, but we’re pretty focused to try and execute our game plan.”

As for the distractions of playing in a North Shore resort, it doesn’t seem to matter for the Cavaliers this year.

“We’re going there to win the tournament,” O’Connell said. “We’ve been really close in a few events, and I think we’re going to win this one. It’s going to be a nice win to end the fall season.”

At Virginia, it sometimes seems as if being miserable is a badge of honor. Respect is gained in the wee hours at Clemons — war waged over who can outdo who in total assignments and impending tests.

Sports can be the same way at times: fans attempt to outdo each other for whose team is worse. No question, those fans would prefer to cheer on a winner, but just like a Commerce School group forced to meet at 3 a.m. on a Sunday night, if they’re going to be miserable, they better at least be the best at it.

Red Sox devotees used to hold the title as the most tortured fan base in sports until last week’s world championship. Some are calling the win one of the greatest sports stories ever, and looking at the way they won, it certainly has to be. Only the Red Sox could come back from three down and then sweep the best team from the regular season.

The bigger issue, however, is who will now accept the mantle of the most tortured fan base in sports. As I pointed out, I am in no way accusing these fan groups of wanting to be losers. They just want to be the best losers they can be.

Let’s start with the obvious successor to the throne — the Chicago Cubs. The Chicago franchise is almost as maligned as the Red Sox, and their title drought is actually longer, stretching back to 1908. People also believe, as they did with the Sox, that the Cubbies are cursed.

The Cubs have also experienced many lean years, years mocked in the timeless cinematic classic “Rookie of the Year,” about a kid who helps pitch the Cubs to a World Series. Despite this movie’s lack of plausibility, I’d be willing to bet that guys worse than Chet Steadman, played by Gary Busey, pitched for the Cubs since 1945.

In football, the Minnesota Vikings have to be considered part of the debate. The Vikings boast four Super Bowl losses and despite fielding several good teams since their run in the 1970s, haven’t been back in the Super Bowl since 1977. The Vikings were founded in 1961, so their fans have suffered 43 years without a championship.

The Cubs and Vikings always come up in a discussion of the most torturous team to cheer on, so talking about them more would just be rehashing old arguments. To find a possibly more tortured fan base, I didn’t have to look far. I simply glanced over at University Hall and thought of Virginia basketball fans.

Virginia fans have been cheering on the Cavaliers since 1905 when Henry Lannigan began his 24-season run at the Virginia helm. In the program’s first 66 years, the Cavaliers only appeared in the postseason once. After the 1940-41 season the Cavaliers suffered a surprising (or for Virginia, unsurprising) early exit in the NIT against the City College of New York.

Even when Ralph Sampson played for Virginia in the early 1980s, and Terry Holland was setting the course for the Cavaliers, the team couldn’t track down the elusive national championship. Holland led the team to two Final Fours in the 1980s, but Virginia students never got to light bonfires in homage to their team, as their ACC rivals to the South, North Carolina and Duke have done so many times. Other teams have suffered for as long as the Cavaliers, but few teams without a championship can boast a three-time national player of the year, as Virginia can with Sampson.

The Jeff Jones years were also championship-free, despite several strong teams during the mid-1990s. In 1998, Pete Gillen arrived, and Cavalier fans have been subjected to more disheartening problems despite Gillen’s early promise. This time the problems are concentrated in player departures and poor team defense.

This program has gone almost 100 years without a championship, besides a single ACC crown in 1976, longer than the Cubs and Red Sox droughts, and twice as long as the Vikings have actually existed.

Virginia basketball fans are clearly one of the most tortured fan bases in the nation. I think it’s time that the program takes its rightful place in the group of titles you don’t want, along with “best player not to win a major” and “best quarterback not to win a Super Bowl.” Virginia basketball fans seem primed for the mantle of most tortured fan base, even if the rest of the nation isn’t paying attention.

Maryland’s special teams have played extraordinarily this season and between their starting kicker and punter, the Terrapins start two of the best special teams players in the country. Week in and week out it adds up to a scary duo for opposing teams.

Starting place kicker Nick Novak is 12 for 17 on field goal attempts thus far this season, while punter Adam Podlesh has been averaging 44.7 yards per punt. That impressive average ranks the sophomore second in the ACC, and ninth nationally, in punting.

“Adam’s done a great job all season,” Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen said, “He’s been a weapon for us, and unfortunately we’ve had to punt a lot.”

With a young quarterback behind center, and a streaky offense, the Terps have had to punt a lot. It’s no surprise then that the team has had to lean hard on its defense and special teams to produce victories. In recent outings, Podlesh’s punts have contributed as much as any defensive stand, helping to pin opposing offenses deep in their own territory. Entering Saturday’s game, Podlesh has attracted the attention of the Cavalier coaches.

“The punter is terrific,” Virginia head coach Al Groh said. “He does it all the right way. He’s got distance. He’s got height, and he’s got location. He’s really a big factor for their team.”

With the exception of the Florida State game, Virginia has not been forced to punt very often, and never with the game in jeopardy. Sophomore Sean Johnson has handled the punting responsibilities this season, achieving poor results, only averaging 33 yards per punt.

Consistent punting is something that Virginia has lacked for the past few seasons. The situation became even more dire when starting punter Tom Hagan left the football team to focus on baseball last spring. With that loss, Virginia was left with a choice between true freshman Chris Gould, walk-on sophomore Noah Greenbaum, junior transfer Kurt Korte and Johnson, who just returned this fall from a two-year Mormon mission trip.

During the spring football scrimmage last April, some of the loudest cheers came during special teams for the punters, indicating that fans hoped for a revival in the punting game. The fans haven’t been the only ones to notice the punting problems, as fellow players have also mentioned the seriousness of the problem.

“They [Maryland] have a very good punt game,” Virginia’s punt returner Alvin Pearman said. “That’s something we really have to focus on because we’re not doing too well in overall punt yards. That difference can really pan out in the course of a game.”

The position of punter has been the one spot Groh has not deliberately worked to infuse with new talent during his four years at Virginia. It’s fairly common for major college football programs to fill their kicker and punter positions with walk-ons, so coaches can save a scholarship for a “skill position” player — a practice Groh has followed. Coaches traditionally have not viewed punters as “skill position” players.

“If you really think special teams are important, then you have to be willing to make whatever investments are necessary — time-wise, personnel-wise, roster-spots-wise,” Groh said.

If the punting game continues to struggle, Groh may be forced to spend some of offseason recruiting punt specialists, instead of relying solely on walk-ons. On Saturday, Maryland will aim to prove to the Cavaliers just how important a strong punting game can be.

An alternately tense and jovial atmosphere prevailed in the “war room” at the University’s Center for Politics last night as staffers and interns analyzed the results of a highly-anticipated presidential election.

At times, guests would happily gather to debate their predictions and munch at the Indian buffet of satay sticks, while at the opposite end of the room stony-faced analysts intently typed at their laptops. Oftentimes, the entire room would fall silent save for the crunching of pita chips during a particularly critical announcement.

The event, organized by Center Associate Director of Communications Peter Jackson, was a combination of an election party and a war room analysis as the long-awaited election season came to close. Interns combined work with play, socializing with colleagues and friends while analyzing the data direct from state boards of elections in demographic categories such as gender, race, education, age and marital status.

Abby Gardner, a Center intern and fourth-year College student, said she and many of the other interns were predominantly interested in the youth turnout for this election.

“We have a particular investment in the young voters because of our flagship program, the Youth Leadership Initiative,” Gardner said. “The youth vote has been in constant decline since ’72, then spiked in ’92 and it’s been back down since then. This year, we’re expecting it to surpass ’92 and maybe even ’72.”

As the data analysis was completed, the interns passed the information along to commentators with the Center, such as Center Director and Politics Prof. Larry J. Sabato, Director of Communications Matt Smyth and Jackson.

“The idea is that most of the time the news will give extra commentary, and we wanted to give our staff the best information possible,” Jackson said. “So we turned it into a party for us and friends of the Center.”

Given the tumultuous result of the 2000 election, no one necessarily expected the party to end before either candidate was declared the winner.

“Both sides will probably try to challenge some results, whether it’s based on voter registrations or other factors,” Smyth said. “It could be tonight, but if it looks like it will be tied we’ll try to turn in early.”

Drew Butler, a former Center intern and 2004 College graduate, said he hoped for an early ending yet did not expect one.

“My main hope is that we know sometime soon,” Butler said. “Not just to know, but also because I’m somewhat worried about the precedent of two elections that are long, drawn out and indicative of something majorly wrong with the electoral process. That’s a pretty decent catalyst for change.”

University Dean of Students Penny Rue said she didn’t expect an early race, yet was happy to be at the Center either way.

“I’m a big fan of the Center for Politics, and it’s more exciting than watching in my living room,” Rue said. “The great thing about being here is that you get a little bit of both media and student input. These [interns] are U.Va. students that you see on the Grounds.”

Recent news events were on the minds of many politicos at the Center. Events directly connected to the electoral decision were topics of conversation, as well as sports comparisons and superstitions.

“I still think it’s Bush’s election to lose, like the Yankees in Game 6, the Red Sox were coming on strong but they still had to win,” said Bryan King, a 2004 College graduate. “A telling predictor for me also was when the Redskins lost, they could have won but there was a weak call made.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Large numbers of citizens turned out here to vote yesterday, encountering pleasant weather, long lines, thousands of Democratic and Republican volunteers and an endless sea of red, white and blue campaign signs.

Polling sites in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia all report very heavy turnout, according to volunteers distributing campaign literature and sample ballots. Despite prior predictions of heavy turnout, many volunteers said they were taken aback by the long lines, which ranged from a 30-minute wait in some places to more than an hour in others, such as at Walt Whitman High School in Bethesda, Md.

“It’s unbelievable,” Republican Precinct Captain Lee Knapp said at Whitman.

At places such as the Vienna Community Center in Vienna, Va., turnout remained strong even during the mid-morning hours, which traditionally are less crowded than the morning and evening rush hours.

“I’ve been doing this for 36 years, and I’ve never seen lines like this, at this hour,” Democratic volunteer Nancy Ruff said at the community center.

Each locality featured its own races, such as for the House of Representatives and school board positions. Virginians voted on two state constitutional amendments and Fairfax County residents also decided whether to approve several bonds. Montgomery County residents in Maryland weighed in on a Senate race and judges in elected positions.

Voters, however, were focusing on the presidential race, according to Ann Humphrey, a Democratic precinct chairman at the Little Flower School in Bethesda, Md.

“No one is interested in my sample ballot,” Humphrey said.

Most polling sites appeared to be free of voting difficulties. In Maryland, where new electronic touch-screen voting machines have been criticized for their vulnerability to hacking and lack of paper receipts for voters, volunteers said they had heard few complaints.

“As far as we’re hearing, they’re working very well,” said Mimi Magyar, a nonpartisan volunteer at Bethesda/Chevy-Chevy Chase Senior High School in Maryland.

Although local races spurred many volunteers to participate, others said they came to the polls to support one of the presidential candidates.

Outside Annunciation Catholic Church here, Republican volunteer Teresa Adams said she volunteered in part to support a friend running for school board but also to support President Bush.

“We are the champions for our candidates,” Adams said.

In spite of the intensity surrounding the election, voters and volunteers said the overall atmosphere remained positive at the polls.

“People here are very polite,” Humphrey said. “It’s very civil.”

The minimum hiring rate for University classified salaried and classified wage employees will increase by 3 percent Dec. 22. Chief Human Resource Officer Thomas E. Gausvik made this announcement in a memo distributed to University deans, department heads and other administrative officers Oct. 5.

Classified employees include secretarial staff, lab technicians, technology personnel and custodians.

The current minimum wage rate of $8.37 per hour will be increased to $8.62 per hour, which equates to a yearly salary boost of $17,410 to $17,930.

Although the increase was a University decision, the boost mirrors legislation passed by Gov. Mark R. Warner and the General Assembly that provides a 3 percent increase to the permanent base salary of classified employees in the University academic division, which will go into effect Nov. 25.

All full-time and part-time classified academic employees will be eligible for a 3 percent increase as long as they receive a rating of “contributor” or “extraordinary contributor” on their annual performance reviews.

Medical Center employees will see the same 3 percent minimum hiring rate increase, which will go into effect Jan. 2, said Graham O. Grove, acting compensation director for the University Health System.

“We do this every year, we take a look at market conditions and we increase the minimum hiring rate,” University Vice President for Finance Yoke San L. Reynolds said.

Jan Cornell, president of the Staff Union at U.Va., said she has reservations about the minimum-wage increases made by the University.

“This is not an increase, it is only due to the 3 percent raise that every employee is already getting on Nov. 25,” Cornell said. “U.Va. is putting a spin on it. They want to make it look like they are taking care of their employees.”

One of Cornell’s concerns is that the increased yearly salary of $17,930 is still below the poverty level of $18,500. Also she noted that the increase does not affect contract workers at the University.

“The state provided a 3 percent increase for our existing employees that we are implementing, but it’s only fair for the entry level positions to be increased,” Reynolds said. “The salary increase that we have put in place is an indication of the University’s continuing interest in making sure that our employees are paid and compensated in a fair way.”

Nevertheless, Cornell acknowledged that the minimum wage increases are a good thing.

“They are going to boost people up,” she said.