Following is the Skinny on weekend competition for the Virginia indoor track and field, men’s and women’s tennis, women’s basketball and wrestling teams. A full preview for men’s basketball is available online and in Thursday’s issue of The Cavalier Daily.
Indoor Track and Field
What: John Thomas Terrier Classic
Where: Boston
When: Friday, 2:30 p.m. and Saturday, 11 a.m.
The Skinny: Barring travel delays from a blizzard which has buried much of the Northeast in snow, a fraction of the Virginia track and field program will arrive on time for the John Thomas Terrier Classic this weekend.
Cavalier runners — including men’s distance and middle distance, and women’s distance, middle distance and sprinters — will be the only Virginia athletes competing in ‘Beantown’ invitational.
Sophomore Filip Mihaljevic, who shattered the school’s shot put record last weekend and was then named the ACC Field Performer of the Week, will remain in Charlottesville with the rest of the field athletes.
But last week’s other program-record setters — senior Payton Hazzard, sophomores Nathan Kiley and David Bartha — and freshman Logan Carrington will make the East Coast journey. In Lexington, Kentucky, this same group ran the men’s 4x400m relay in 3 minutes, 12.52 seconds, outdoing the 3-minute, 12.55-second record set during the 1989 season.
Jordan Lavender, 2013-14 ACC champion in the women’s 400-meter dash, will join the distance medley crew for this two-day “business trip.” Improving upon a recent seventh-place finish of 54 seconds in her signature event has been and will be the senior’s main objective.
Additional top-10 runners from last weekend’s Rod McCravy Memorial Invitational, junior Evan Chiplock (4:10.19 men’s mile), graduate student Morgan Kelly (9:27.59 women’s 3,000 meter) and junior Kyle King (8:11.53 men’s 3,000 meter) among others, will endeavor to cross the finish line first in Boston.
—compiled by Grant Gossage
Men’s Tennis
What: Dallas Challenger
Where: Dallas
When: Saturday
The Skinny: The Virginia men’s tennis team plays its first tournament of the 2015 season with eight players to compete in the Dallas Challenger. The Cavaliers are undefeated on the season and have yet to drop a set.
Virginia’s most recent victories came at the expense of Morgan State and Liberty last week in Charlottesville. In each of the 7-0 victories, no opposing player was able to win more than four games against the Virginia lineup.
The Cavaliers are sending eight players to Dallas: freshmen Collin Altamirano, Alexander Ritschard and Henrik Wiersholm; sophomores J.C. Aragone, Luca Corintelli and Thai-Son Kwiatkowski; junior Mac Styslinger, and the lone senior will be Mitchell Frank.
Kwiatkowski is the top-ranked player for the Cavaliers, standing at No. 4 in the nation. Virginia’s other top-10 player, sixth-ranked junior Ryan Shane, will not make the trip.
The qualifying draw for the tournament will be released Friday night and tournament play is set to begin Saturday.
—compiled by Ryan Taylor
Women’s Tennis
What: No. 10 Virginia (2-1) vs. No. 21 South Carolina (4-0)
Where: Boar’s Head Sports Club
When: Friday, 5 p.m.
The Skinny: The Virginia women’s tennis team battles South Carolina Friday afternoon at the Boar’s Head Sports Club in Charlottesville.
With several players sidelined by the flu, the No. 10 Cavaliers fell 6-1 at No. 6 Baylor last Saturday in Waco, Texas for their first defeat of the season.
Just four of Virginia’s eight players made the trip to the Hawkins Tennis Center, resulting in forfeits at No. 3 doubles and Nos. 5 and 6 singles. Freshman Cassie Mercer posted the Cavaliers’ lone win at No. 4 singles, topping Bears freshman Leolia JeanJean.
Juniors No. 16 Stephanie Nauta, Maci Epstein and Skylar Morton competed at Nos. 1, 2 and 3 singles, respectively, with Epstein pushing Baylor junior Kiah Generette to the third-set tiebreaker. Juniors No. 1 Julia Elbaba and No. 42 Danielle Collins — the reigning NCAA singles champion — missed the match.
Before facing Baylor, Virginia downed Utah and Virginia Commonwealth at home.
South Carolina, meanwhile, owns wins against Grand Canyon, Northern Arizona, Kansas and New Mexico to start the year, all at the Linda Estes Tennis Center in Albuquerque. Each victory came in convincing fashion.
Seniors No. 99 Meghan Blevins and No. 120 Elixane Lechemia lead the Gamecocks in singles.
South Carolina is 4-1 against Virginia all-time. The Cavaliers beat the Gamecocks for the first time last year, prevailing 5-2 at home.
First serve is set for 5 p.m.
—compiled by Matthew Morris
Women’s Basketball
What: Virginia (14-7, 4-4 ACC) vs. Clemson (9-12, 1-7 ACC)
Where: Clemson, South Carolina
When: Sunday, 2 p.m.
The Skinny: The Virginia women’s basketball team hits the road Sunday to face the Clemson Tigers after splitting a two-game homestand.
After losing to Georgia Tech last Sunday 68-62, the Cavaliers bounced back with a 71-63 win against NC State Thursday night to snap their three-game losing streak.
The Cavaliers made 11 of 15 3-point attempts as the Wolfpack missed 13 of their last 15 shots to close out the game and relinquished the lead with 8:55 left in the second half.
Clemson also played Thursday night, when it lost in the final seconds to Wake Forest, 64-62. The loss was the Tigers’ seventh straight. Five of those defeats have been by double digits, though three of those were to ranked teams. Clemson is now 0-8 on the road.
Inexperience could be the reason for Clemson’s recent woes — the team leads the nation in minutes played by freshmen.
That group is led by senior guard/forward Nikki Dixon, who has scored at least 10 points in 13 straight games, including a 25-point performance against the Demon Deacons. So far, Dixon has bested her career highs set last year in points per game, rebounds per game, field goal percentage and free-throw percentage to lead her team in the first two categories.
—compiled by Chanhong Luu
Wrestling
What: No. 12 Virginia (10-3, 2-0 ACC) at No. 9 Virginia Tech (9-2, 0-0 ACC)
Where: Moss Arts Center in Blacksburg
When: Sunday, 2 p.m.
The Skinny: Two premier wrestling teams clash yet again, but this time in a new venue. Virginia Tech opens the doors of the sold-out Moss Arts Center — a Broadway-style theater — to renew one of the fiercest rivalries in the sport.
Virginia and Virginia Tech clashed earlier in the season in the finals of the Virginia Duals. The Hokies bested the Cavaliers, 16-15, in a match that went down to the wire. Both teams won five matches, but a major decision victory by No. 3 senior Devin Carter against junior Justin Van Hoose proved to make the difference.
But it was Virginia who took advantage of bonus points to secure a close win Sunday against then-No. 10 Pittsburgh. Once again, the teams split the match, but two major decisions gave the Cavaliers the 17-16 win.
All signs point to yet another tightly contested battle between the in-state rivals. At the behest of coach Steve Garland, Virginia has been more aggressive since its loss to Virginia Tech. That drive, coupled with the possible return of No. 14 senior Joe Spisak, could be enough to put the Cavaliers over the top against the Hokies.
—compiled by Matthew Wurzburger
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