Monday’s article reporting a large increase in the ethnic diversity of applicants for the Class of 2013 was certainly good news. However, I was disappointed to see that admissions statistics for Asian-American applicants were omitted from the report. When celebrating the diversity of the University, it should not be a matter of picking and choosing certain racial groups to highlight. Asian Americans make up over 11% of the undergraduate student body, and yet we are, at times, dropped from the University’s consciousness. Although some may consider it a success for a minority group to reach the levels of enrollment that Asian Americans have, an unfortunate result of this is that we have been relegated to a class of invisible minority. With each mark of success, much more work remains to be done.

I understand the Admissions Office may have chosen to omit the numbers because of a decrease in Asian-American applicants. Nevertheless, the numbers should still be reported. If the number of Asian-American applicants has indeed declined, than this is a serious issue that needs to be brought to light. While it is heartening to hear that this year’s applicants demonstrate an increase in ethnic diversity, we must remember to look at the full picture. If we’re going to celebrate the diversity of ethnic minorities at the University, why not celebrate all of them?

Amy Chen
Asian Student Union Treasurer
CLAS II

Nine days after the passing of former University Admissions Dean John Blackburn, the University named one of Blackburn’s protégés, Senior Associate Admissions Dean Greg Roberts, to the top admissions post.

“There is perhaps no other office at this University that demands the judgment, fairness … and ability to call shots when one needs to like admissions,” University President John T. Casteen, III, said yesterday, later noting that Roberts possesses the skill-set and determination needed to set him apart from a competitive field of candidates.

Roberts, who held admissions positions at private institutions prior to coming to the University as an associate dean in 2003, took over much of the day-to-day directing duties of the admissions office last year, during Blackburn’s prolonged bout with cancer. The combination of University experience and Roberts’ reputation both on Grounds and across the nation made him the most obvious and qualified candidate for the position, Casteen said.  

Roberts’ candidacy for admissions dean also was supported by Blackburn, Casteen said. He noted that Blackburn wrote in a letter to the admissions dean search committee that Roberts’ six years at the University have more than adequately prepared him to take on greater responsibilities.

“This position carries with it a fair amount of stress and it requires that the person in the position be able to handle the pressures and still maintain a positive attitude,” Blackburn wrote, according to a University press release. “It requires flexibility and a clear sense of University priorities. All of us know that the University of Virginia is unique among American universities, and I think understanding what is unique about it is essential if one is to be successful in this role.”

With that understanding, Roberts said he aims to continue Blackburn’s almost three-decade legacy of enhancing University diversity and access. During Blackburn’s term, the University saw an increasingly diverse first-year student class, especially in recent years, and also made an effort to increase the availability of financial aid funds via programs like AccessUVA. Now, Roberts said, the University is faced with new challenges, including a rapidly shifting economic landscape and the need to reach out to a truly global student body.

“I look forward to building on Jack’s legacy,” Roberts said, admitting that he “has big shoes to fill.”

Under Roberts’ leadership, the admissions office will continue to try to meet the needs a of a top-tier academic institution and to expand student outreach efforts and financial aid programs.

“We will look to see how we can attack these challenges,” Roberts added, noting that his office — just as it did under Blackburn’s leadership — will continue emphasizing “Jeffersonian values” like honor, dignity and respect. “We’ve really only reached the tip of the iceberg in terms of availability for low-income students and students of color.”

Fourth-year College student Chalais Massard, who served as the student member of the admissions dean search committee, said she is confident the selection of Roberts will be positive for the University.

“He has the ability to synthesize many aspects of the admissions process,” Massard said, noting Roberts’ “very good ability to process and understand information.”

University faculty, museum staff, administrators and students gathered yesterday at the University Art Museum to witness the introduction of its new director, Bruce Ambler Boucher.

“It’s a great honor to have been chosen by the search committee to become the next director of the University Art Museum,” Boucher said, thanking the crowd for being indoors with him on the unseasonably warm winter afternoon.

“In Chicago we call this a spring day,” he joked.

Boucher has been the curator of European sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago for the last seven years while also teaching at the University of Chicago. Previously, he served as an art history professor at the University College London for 24 years.

James Godfrey, a member of the Museum’s Art Advisory Board, said he is impressed with Boucher’s international experience and expertise.

“He brings a diverse knowledge of art and antiquities having worked with many other art directors and curators,” Godfrey said. “His international experience will prove to be a great benefit to the University Art Museum.”

While members of the community commended the new director on his work, Boucher, in his acceptance speech, applauded the University for sustaining and expanding its art department during a time when other university art museums in the United States are “selling the family silver,” or selling off art pieces because of economic hardships.

He also noted the important role art plays at universities.

“Art is really essential to the experience of the university,” he said noting art gives academics “a way to look at our surroundings; to make the familiar strange and the strange familiar.”

Art Department Chair Lawrence Goedde, who helped to select Boucher as director, explained that Boucher met and exceeded the search committee’s standards.

“We developed criteria that we were looking for in a museum director: the kind of person with the right kind of academic expertise, the right kind of museum expertise, [and who] demonstrated leadership ability,” Goedde said.

After narrowing down the search for a new director from 12 to five candidates, the search committee unanimously chose Boucher.

“He has exactly the combination of qualities that we look for in an art director,” Goedde said.

A bill asking the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia to consider the possibility of establishing a four-year, public institution of higher education in Virginia Beach was withdrawn yesterday from the Virginia House of Delegates’ Subcommittee on Studies due to lack of funding from the commonwealth.

Del. Richard Tata, R-Virginia Beach, who was the bill’s patron, proposed a similar bill last year that was shot down for the same reason.

“I’ve not given up hope; we just need funds,” Tata said. “We are the only city of our size in the country without a four-year public university.”

Although the city is home to branches of nearby universities and a community college that offers two-year degrees, “it’s just not the same,” as a four year university, Tata said.

The bill offered several other reasons for a study, including the increased demand for in-state schools between 2006 and 2013 and the concern that high school students will want to leave the area after graduating.

“We have a very sophisticated citizenry,” he said. “A lot of them would like to stay home and want a college at home.”

Tata also noted the economic benefits of a four-year institute of higher education.

“[Colleges are] economic engines,” he noted. “They just spin off jobs.”

The proposed study would have required about $100,000 to conduct, according to Kirsten Nelson, director of communications and government relations for SCHEV.

“We would be studying the pros and cons of building a four-year institution in the city of Virginia Beach, which we’ve done [in other areas] and which we’re capable of doing, but it’s an extremely expensive project… We don’t have the resources,” Nelson said.

Tata said he will try again next year because he believes the community of Virginia Beach will feel negative economic repercussions without the construction of such an institution.

“There’s a need for some four-year college to take shape; otherwise we’ll just be left behind,” he said.

David Slutzky, chairman of the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors, recently announced his decision not to challenge Del. Rob Bell, R-Charlottesville, for his seat in the General Assembly.

Though Slutzky expressed interest in the position, he has decided to focus on his work on the Board of Supervisors, where he represents the Rio District.

“I looked hard at the idea [of running] because I would enjoy serving in the General Assembly,” Slutzky said. “At the moment it would take a lot of time and energy to wage a campaign against an entrenched incumbent.”

Bell, who was first elected to his position in 2001, said he has a proven track record of serving his constituents and said he is confident that voters would have acknowledged that should Slutzky have decided to run.

Slutzky also noted that the effort would be a “distraction” to his work on the board, as there are now several pressing issues facing the board.

Expanding the transit system in Albemarle County, Slutzky said, is among the board’s concerns. Additionally, Slutzky emphasized the importance of acting as a “spokesperson for the needs of the poor.” The board is part of a joint task force including the city, county and the University dedicated to addressing the issue of affordable housing in the area.

Another issue that needs to be addressed at a local level is climate control, Slutzky said. He noted that he has experience dealing with this issue; he served as a surrogate speaker for then-New York Sen. Hillary Clinton during her run for U.S. president, speaking about climate-control issues. Slutzky also served as a senior policy adviser for environmental issues under President Bill Clinton.

Slutzky said he is unsure whether he will pursue the General Assembly seat in the future, noting “I kind of take it one election at a time.”
Meanwhile, though no new opponent has risen to run against Bell, the incumbent delegate said he remains ready to be challenged.

“There are thousands of people in this district, and any one of them could decide to run against me,” Bell said, noting that he aims to win his current seat again regardless of who might challenge him.

January was not kind to the Virginia men’s basketball team, which came away with a 1-5 record over the course of the month. After dropping their last four contests to a slew of tough ACC squads — including an embarrassing home loss to Florida State, in which Virginia made just three first-half field goals — the weary Cavaliers could use a refreshing game against a weak, non-conference opponent to work out the kinks.

Unfortunately for Virginia, its schedule requires it to travel to Cameron Indoor Stadium to take on No. 1 Duke.

Virginia (7-9, 1-4 ACC) enters Sunday’s game with a dismal 1-4 record on the road, while Duke (18-2, 5-1 ACC) boasts a perfect 12-0 record at home. Needless to say, the Cavaliers will have their hands full playing in Cameron Indoor Stadium, where the infamously raucous Cameron Crazies are sure to compound the team’s challenges on the court. In the teams’ previous meeting at Cameron Indoor Jan. 13 of last season, the Blue Devils never trailed, eventually blowing the game open to a 22-point victory.

“I heard the environment is real loud and crazy, so just going down there, it’s going to be an experience,” freshman guard Sylven Landesberg said.

The experience will be eye-opening for the young Virginia squad. In order to hang tough with the more seasoned Duke team, the Cavaliers will need to adopt a newfound sense of maturity.

“When good teams with good veteran leadership and that kind of thing start to struggle, particularly on the road, there’s a mind-set that you can count on,” Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. “Most young people are searching for their own way. When you’re going through this for the first time, you think of it in that way as opposed to having experienced this a number of times, and then you say, ‘OK, this is what we have to do … if we box out, if we do this, then we’re gonna be all right’.”

If Virginia is to have any kind of chance of winning this game, it is imperative that the Cavaliers get off to a strong start. Time and time again this season, the Cavaliers have dug themselves into inescapable holes early in games. Last week’s 16-point first-half effort against Florida State is the latest example. Although the Cavaliers fought back valiantly and actually out-scored the Seminoles in the second half, they simply could not overcome their 14-point halftime deficit.

Duke showed what it is capable of doing to slow-starting teams. Last week against Maryland, it held the Terrapins to 15 points and took a 25-point lead into halftime, never looking back and going on to win by 41.

To avoid the same fate as Maryland, Virginia must contend with Duke’s stout defense, which gives up just 59.5 points per game. Leitao’s bunch will have to find ways to handle Duke’s intense ball pressure and minimize turnovers, something that has been a recurring problem this season for the Cavaliers as they have an assist-to-turnover ratio of 0.9, which is 10th in the ACC. Against Florida State they committed 19 turnovers and dished out just eight assists.

“I thought [the turnovers Saturday] were turnovers of not being aggressive,” Leitao said. “Then when we were aggressive, we weren’t smart because we drove into a help defender that took the ball from us, or deflected it, or whatever.”

On the defensive end, Virginia must figure out how to slow down the sharp-shooting Duke sophomore forward Kyle Singler, who leads the Blue Devils in scoring with 16.8 points per game, as well as the high-flying Gerald Henderson, who has put up 17.8 points per game in his last 11 games.

If the Cavaliers can somehow keep the Duke guards in check, they can keep this game close. Duke lacks a legitimate interior presence on offense; 7-foot-1 sophomore Brian Zoubek provides the Blue Devils with defense and rebounding but is rarely looked to for scoring.

Virginia’s lineup changes will be another point of interest in this game. Last week, Leitao re-designated the starting two-guard position to Calvin Baker, who replaced senior Mamadi Diane, who has continued to slump offensively. The most puzzling personnel decision, however, surrounded Jamil Tucker, who only played 11 minutes against the Seminoles despite scoring a career-high 21 points in the previous game against Maryland. Tucker racked up 10 points in that 11-minute span. On his radio show Monday night, Leitao explained that Tucker’s lack of playing time was due to an off-court matter.

Whoever Leitao puts in the game Sunday needs to do something to lift the Cavaliers out of their collective shooting funk. Virginia is the only ACC team shooting less than 30 percent from 3-point range, something Leitao attributed on his radio show to the loss of players such as Sean Singletary and Adrian Joseph, along with the team’s inability to find a consistent outside shooter.

The only conceivable advantage Virginia will have against Duke on Sunday is its eight-day layoff since its last game against Florida State. The Cavaliers should be well-rested to take on the Blue Devils, who are coming off a grueling 2-point loss Wednesday at Wake Forest, after the Demon Deacons put in the go-ahead bucket with 0.8 seconds on the clock. On the flip side, however, as ESPN announcer Dick Vitale put it in the second half of Duke’s Wednesday loss, “Virginia has the luck of playing Duke after a possible L.”

By now, though, every Virginia player understands that nothing comes easy in the ACC.

“It’s the toughest league, that’s what everybody came here for,” sophomore guard Jeff Jones said. “We’ve just gotta keep practicing, keep working hard.”

Coming off a compelling win on the road against Clemson, the No. 18 Virginia women’s basketball team will face Maryland tonight at John Paul Jones Arena.

Virginia (16-4, 3-2 ACC) looks to stop a high-powered offense that has out-scored opponents by a total of 240 points, averaging 77.3 points per game this season. Having only lost to one ACC rival thus far, Maryland (16-3, 4-1 ACC) stands tall at No. 8, with its only conference loss coming at Duke.

Maryland coach Brenda Frese will rely heavily on senior point guard Kristi Toliver, a second-team All-American last year who leads the Terps with 17.4 points and 5.4 assists per game, to penetrate the Cavalier defense. Senior forward Marissa Coleman has also progressed as a threat, putting up 14.7 points per contest. Virginia will also seek to contain junior forward Demauria Liles on the glass, who leads the team and is third in the conference in rebounding with 9.2 per game. Overall, Maryland has one of the more balanced teams in the country, as four players average double-figures scoring.

“[Maryland is] a good team, but we’re a good team also,” senior guard Britnee Millner said, “We’re going to focus mainly on ourselves to make sure we do what we need to do in order to win. We definitely are [making preparations], but we are mainly focusing on ourselves.”

In preparation, the Cavaliers look to weapons such as junior guard Monica Wright, who averages 22.0 points per game and also leads the team in steals.

Against Clemson, Virginia showed its versatility and depth. Senior forward Lyndra Littles was the Cavaliers’ high scorer with 22 points, while senior center Aisha Mohammed added 17 points and 11 rebounds for her seventh double-double of the year.

Virginia prepares to enter Friday’s game with both a positive mentality and eager spirit. The win earlier this season against defending national champion Tennessee on the road stands as the Cavaliers’ landmark road win thus far; after dropping its last home game to Florida State, the Cavaliers look to make a similar statement at home against the higher-ranked Terrapins. A win would also give Virginia coach Debbie Ryan her 692nd career victory and would improve Virginia’s all-time record against Maryland to 41-29.

“It’s been interesting but you have to win your home games.” Ryan said, “My team knows that. You can’t play in this league unless you can win at home.”

Though the Cavaliers are 10-1 at home, the team’s last home victory came Jan. 11 against Wake Forest. Maryland is 5-3 on the road in comparison. Although Maryland is ranked higher on most polls and standings, the statistics of these two ACC rivals are similar.

“The conference is very strong; each team can win on any given day,” Millner said. “On Friday, I think it will be a great game and a good challenge for both teams,”

The contest Friday might become a simple battle of wills.

“Just believe we can do it, and we’re going to do it,” senior guard Kristen London said.

For certain sports, the differences between professional teams and college athletic programs may no longer seem apparent, if drawing that distinction still makes sense at all.

To illustrate this difference more fully, I think we can begin at the end of an informal spectrum of sports: the college club sport. The perspective of this kind of organization should help us to better understand what it is we demand from collegiate and professional sports. Rather than make broad generalizations about the University’s club sports, I will focus on one: the men’s club soccer team.

The Virginia men’s club soccer team exists as a contracted independent organization, which provides some monetary and formal benefits but also makes extending the life of the club more difficult because of a high turnover rate.

The 2008-09 season provides a good example. Before the season, president Michael Messer said, the team was not sure what to expect because the team’s roster was depleted; there were holes in the midfield to fill, and most of the players who did come back felt like the 2007-08 season was a “wake-up call,” in part because the team did not play as many games, treasurer Eric Scofield said. A coach, which the team lacks, could mitigate the effects of such uncertainty by providing stability, long-term planning and a constant and critical eye on the sideline.

A coach, whether from within or outside the University community, would also help counteract the club’s limited institutional memory; however, Messer and Scofield expressed hesitation at the suggestion of the idea.

Scofield said a coach would not necessarily fit with the club’s self-image, which seems to be very aware of its responsibility to itself. A coach would “require a large restructuring of how the club is set up, and how the [non-executive] members would interact with the team,” Scofield said, adding that a coach would be “someone we have to impress.”

Traditionally, the team’s president has acted as a combination of manager and coach, and the relationship between the president and the players can be more casual because they share the experience of being University students. Having a peer for a coach introduces an open atmosphere and a “camaraderie” that a coach would stifle, Scofield said. “It inspires people to work harder because we don’t have a coach,” Scofield said. “We don’t want to blame whatever performance we have on not having a coach. We take pride in accomplishing these things by ourselves. I think [not having a coach] has benefited us.”

For the 2008-09 season, Messer was an on-again, off-again player as he struggled through injuries. In part a testament to his commitment to the team, he took on many of the coaching duties. “He couldn’t play, but he contributed much more as a stand-in coach,” Scofield said. Because the other players could relate to Messer’s role, “I think everyone accepted [his leadership] because he is one of us, and he would kill to play.”

In the past, the team’s “coaches” have also done a lot of the playing, Messer said. “I think because Eric [Scofield] stepped up, it didn’t affect the team as much, but it is definitely good to have someone who can handle substitutions, watch what is going on, what we need to work on. Because you’re so focused on playing, it is hard to do anything else.”

This last statement strikes home at what allows the team to continue year after year: the satisfaction of creating something yourself, even, and perhaps especially, in the face of a myriad of other commitments.

The team began its season with matches close to home, against Richmond, James Madison and a tournament at North Carolina in Chapel Hill, which Messer said the team played in “to get a few games under our belt.” After compiling a 2-1-2 record through the week before Fall Break, the team planned to travel to Clemson during the break. Because the team operates as a student organization, professors do not necessarily excuse team members from class because of a tournament, Messer said. The team traveled to Clemson with only 14 players — for a sport that demands 11 players on the field at a time — because many players had commitments, “other, large significant things that the rest of the team understood,” Scofield said. The team performed beyond its expectations, coming in third and qualifying for the regional tournament with wins against Kentucky and Florida State, which were both ranked ahead of Virginia at the time.

“I would say that was the turning point of our season because we came with so few players [and] we were so tired,” having played late Friday night, Saturday morning and afternoon and Sunday morning, Messer said. Scofield agreed, stating, “When we went to that tournament that really ignited us as a team.”

Three weeks later, the team traveled to the regional tournament, where it avenged an earlier loss against N.C. State to advance to the semifinals. Virginia lost against a then-undefeated Florida squad, playing them all the way to the last 10 minutes of the game, when Florida scored the go-ahead goal. The team’s performance earned a spot at the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association National Campus Championship Series National Soccer Championship, held 2.5 weeks later in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

For those weeks, the team showed motivation and coherence that had been built from trust and reliance on each other. Like games, practices are also run by the veteran members of the team, center back Keith Campbell said, “because it takes all of us working together to produce.”

“At the beginning of the next practice from a tournament, we talk about the things that went wrong, the good things, how we created scoring chances, where we need to improve,” Campbell said, although “a lot of that goes on the fly,” during games, when the defenders and forwards talk about what they see from the other end of the field.

Virginia traveled to Alabama the weekend before Thanksgiving, tying its first two games before losing in the national Sweet 16 in sudden death overtime to Penn State 3-2. This result put Virginia club soccer among the top-16 teams in the nation, which is an admirable feat and certainly one that these players will remember for the rest of their lives. And now that the season is over? “We work concessions at JPJ to help pay for tournaments,” Messer said.

The team draws its motivation from its sense of accomplishment in that this team is theirs, and as equals, they have taken part in something larger than themselves, even without the satisfaction of highly publicized results. Though tempered by the realization that this may be the highest level of competitive soccer at which they play, and that they are not always “playing beautiful soccer,” as Campbell put it, the team’s sense of responsibility to itself seems to provide the bond that brings together their varied interests in the club: simply playing soccer, satisfying a sense of competition, being part of a group of friends, representing the University.

When fans partake in odd and seemingly arbitrary rituals, when professional athletes — even those who seem to love money more than themselves — put their very bodies on the line week in and week out, when reporters and fantasy sports nuts obsess about every little statistical trend, they take responsibility for every win and loss as if it were their own. The difference for the Virginia club’s soccer team is that when the ball drops, they have only themselves to answer to.

While many people are preparing to watch Super Bowl XLIII, the Virginia women’s tennis team will be engaging in preparation of its own. With a pair of matches this weekend in Florida, the team will attempt to qualify for the National Team Indoors Tournament in two weeks. The squad needs to win both of its matches — against Tennessee and either Miami or Utah — to advance.

After a season-opening 6-1 win against Old Dominion and a 4-3 upset against No. 25 Texas Christian, Virginia (2-0), ranked in preseason polls at No. 41, is coming out with a vengeance.

“We want to try to get better every time we play,” Virginia coach Mark Guilbeau said. “Sometimes you want to get better every match during the match.”

Freshman Emily Fraser is one player who has made great strides thus far this season and hopes to do so this weekend, as well. Ranked No. 82 in singles preseason, she began the season in the No. 4 singles slot at the U.Va. Winter Invitational but moved to the No. 2 slot on the third day of competition. After winning her first singles match at her upgraded position in straight sets, she has held on to her spot ever since. In dual-match play this season, Fraser is 1-1, losing only to No. 49 senior Macall Harkins of TCU 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.

“She’s a kid that came in the fall and right away … didn’t look like a freshman,” Guilbeau said. “Emily’s played a lot of tennis, but the bottom line is, she’s a freshman, she’s a first-year. She didn’t look like that — she looked way beyond that.”

Fraser is also a force to be reckoned with in doubles competition. Partnered with junior Jennifer Stevens, the duo has risen to No. 32 nationally in doubles teams. Most recently, the two downed No. 25 TCU’s best doubles pair 8-5 as Virginia swept the doubles point.

“Emily is a great doubles player — her hands are incredible,” Stevens said. “If she can just move more at the net, I think she’s by far the best doubles player on her team. It’s great to play with her.”

Virginia’s roster is bolstered by another quality freshman, Lindsey Hardenbergh. This weekend’s opponents should take note; Hardenbergh already won her first tournament on the pro circuit in the fall and is on a four-match winning streak in the spring season. In the two dual matches, Hardenbergh lost a total of two games as she rolled in straight sets at the No. 4 singles slot. In doubles, Hardenbergh is undefeated at the No. 3 position. After starting the season playing with sophomore transfer Neela Vaez, she has found her niche with senior Maggie Yahner in dual-match play.

“She’s a fighter; she never gives up,” Stevens said. “She’s funny — she’s like in her own world out there.”

The cohesiveness of the doubles pairs is representative of the entire team as a working unit, an intangible factor that can have an impact on the outcome of a match — or even the entire season. For now, though, the team is concerned with sweeping this weekend’s matches so the players can head to the National Team Indoors Tournament in Madison, Wisc. Feb. 13 to 16.

Due to a sprint-heavy format, the Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving teams will have to bring an extra dose of vigor to Pennsylvania this weekend when they race Pittsburgh on Sunday.

The Virginia men’s and women’s teams found perhaps their most triumphant success last weekend, proving superior to two ACC foes hailing from North Carolina: UNC and Duke. North Carolina in particular is considered one of the biggest ACC threats to the Virginia team, but thanks to a strong 400-meter freestyle relay performance by Virginia junior John Azar, freshman Peter Geissinger, sophomore Scot Robison and sophomore Matt McLean, the men clinched a 156-144 victory.

Repeating last weekend’s performance, however, may not do the trick at this weekend’s meet, considering the unconventional design.

In other dual meets, races range from 100 meters to 1,750 meters, catering to both sprinters and distance swimmers. Pittsburgh, however, made the decision to make Sunday’s meet a sprint meet, and while a meet of sprints alone is ideal for some, it strays from the format swimmers have been seeing since competition began in October.

“We’re going to be doing 100s of all the strokes, and short relays, we’re doing 200s of each relay,” Virginia coach Mark Bernardino said. “That will be interesting because I’m not sure we’re as prepared to sprint this week as we will be three or four weeks from now, but it will be a good test for us.”

The test Bernardino refers to is one that will allow the team to estimate where it stands before ACC Championships in February. It will also be a test to see whether the Virginia athletes will be able to out-swim the historically gifted Pittsburgh team that has taken home many Big East titles over the years. This season, however, has certainly not been the Panthers’ best.

“Historically, Pittsburgh has always been a good matchup for us,” Bernardino said. “I think they’re probably in a little bit more of a rebuilding mode with the young team this year, but nonetheless, they’re a good team with good swimmers, and because of the change in format, we have to be prepared to race different races than we have been the past two months.”

Throwing this sort of wild card into the mix could toy with any team’s training program; however, with the postseason approaching, now is a good time to work on getting out of the blocks quickly.

“I hope some of the swimmers get some personal bests,” Bernardino said. “But we haven’t swum some of these events fresh for a little bit of time now, so it’s my hope that we see some speed, or even just out-speed in the races, even if we don’t come back quite as well as I would like. Just to see some of their initial speed in the races would be good.”

Should the Cavaliers pass this test, they would bolster their already-powerful reputation going into the end of the season. The men and women are both holding their ground at the top spot of the ACC standings; the men boast a 5-0 record in the ACC, and an 8-2 record overall. The Cavalier women are also undefeated in the ACC with a 5-0 record and have only lost one meet, giving them an impressive 8-1 mark.

The Virginia swimmers have proven they are an elite group. This weekend in Pittsburgh, the Cavaliers will be tested in more ways than one.