The Skinny on weekend competition for Virginia’s baseball, wrestling, swimming and diving, women’s lacrosse, women’s golf, softball, and men’s and women’s tennis teams. Full previews of men’s basketball and men’s lacrosse can be found online and in the Thursday print edition of The Cavalier Daily.
Baseball
What: No. 1 Virginia (10-0) vs. Pittsburgh (3-6)
Where: Davenport Field
When: Saturday, 1 p.m. and 4:30 p.m.; Sunday, 1 p.m.
The Skinny: The No. 1 Cavaliers turn their attention to visiting Pittsburgh this weekend in their first home series of the season. Virginia continued their hot streak after running the table in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina against Hartford, Seton Hall, and Cornell.
The Cavaliers can attribute their early season success to hot pitching by weekend starters juniors Nathan Kirby and Brandon Waddell and sophomore Connor Jones. As a unit the team boasts one of the lowest earned run averages in the country with an ERA of 1.27.
A pleasant surprise for this year’s Virginia team has been the extended and the mature play of several freshman. Freshmen first baseman Pavin Smith, right fielder Adam Hasley, designated hitter Charlie Cody, center fielder Ernie Clement and second baseman Justin Novak have played well with veterans coming back from injury.
The Cavaliers are catching the Panthers in the midst of an early season slump. They are currently 3-6 and are coming off three losses in their last four games. Pittsburgh is currently hitting .258 as a team.
With an ERA of 0.49 and three wins, Kirby should be taking the mound for the Cavaliers against probable starter sophomore T.J Zeuch for the Panthers Friday. Jones and Waddell should pitch the other two games.
—compiled by Mahi Shapally
Women’s Tennis
What: Virginia (9-2, 3-0 ACC) vs. Florida State (6-3, 1-1 ACC) and George Washington (4-3, 0-0 A10)
Where: Sheridan Snyder Tennis Center
When: Sunday, 11 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The Skinny: The Virginia women’s tennis team hosts Florida State and George Washington Sunday at the Sheridan Snyder Tennis Center in its first outdoor home matches of the spring. The No. 5 Cavaliers take on the Seminoles at 11 a.m. and the Colonials at 4 p.m.
Florida State has played strong tennis since a 5-0 defeat against No. 14 Miami Jan. 25 in Coral Gables, Florida. The Seminoles have won five of their last seven matches, with their only losses coming by 4-3 scores against No. 2 Florida and No. 15 Clemson.
Florida State, however, has not played an away match since its loss to the Hurricanes. The Seminoles will play Virginia Tech in Blacksburg Saturday, a day before their match against Virginia.
No. 73 senior Kerrie Cartwright, No. 83 junior Yukako Noi and No. 101 senior Daneika Borthwick lead Florida State in singles.
George Washington, meanwhile, has not played a match since a 4-0 loss to Harvard Feb. 22 at the Southeast Tennis Center in Washington, D.C. Coach Greg Munoz’s team does not feature a singles player ranked in the top 125 of the latest ITA national rankings.
Freshman Teodora Radosavljevic — George Washington’s No. 1 singles player — has a 5-2 record in singles matches while sophomore Grace Egger is 4-0 in appearances at No. 3 and No. 4 singles. Radosavljevic hails from Belgrade, Serbia, the birthplace of megastar Novak Djokovic.
—compiled by Matthew Morris
Men’s Tennis
What: No. 12 Virginia (7-2) vs. No. 20 Wake Forest (8-3) and No. 31 North Carolina State (10-3)
Where: Winston-Salem, N.C. and Raleigh, N.C.
When: Friday, 4 p.m.; Saturday, 3 p.m.
The Skinny: The 12th-ranked Virginia men’s tennis team, having dropped two matches following an impressive six-game dominant win streak to start the season, open up ACC play this weekend. Led by the top two singles players in the nation, sophomore Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and junior Ryan Shane, the Cavaliers (7-2) will look to bounce back this weekend in two pivotal ACC matchups in one of the toughest conferences in NCAA men’s tennis, boasting five of the top 25 teams in the nation.
First, they’ll take on No. 20 Wake Forest (8-3) Friday, who, like Virginia, is coming off a tight loss to a top-10 school, and is led by 2013 ITA National Rookie of the Year and 21st-ranked junior Romain Bogaerts. Next, Virginia will take on the 31st-ranked North Carolina State, which is currently riding a four-match win streak. The Cavaliers easily handled both teams last season, besting the Wolfpack 6-1 before blanking the Demon Deacons 7-0.
The Cavaliers will be spending the weekend in North Carolina as both matches are away. Friday the Cavs will compete at the Wake Forest Indoor Tennis Center, the annual host of the ATP’s Winston-Salem Open, one of the many US Open tune-up tournaments. Saturday, Virginia will travel two hours west to the J.W. Isenhour Tennis Center for their afternoon matchup with the Wolfpack. Last season, the Cavaliers secured impressive success on the road, going 6-1.
The Cavaliers have won eight straight ACC championships and don’t look to be slowing down anytime soon. However, as is true for nearly all ACC sports, the conference schedule is grueling and a strong start is imperative if a team wants to achieve success as both the weather and the competition heat up.
The Wake Forest match will take place at 4 p.m. Friday, and North Carolina State will begin at 3 p.m. Saturday.
—compiled by Jacob Hochberger
Women’s Golf
What: Darius Rucker Intercollegiate
Where: The Long Cove Club in Hilton Head, S.C.
When: Friday-Sunday
The Skinny: The Virginia women’s golf team competes in the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate this weekend following strong showings last month at the UCF Challenge and Florida State Matchup. The No. 10 Cavaliers are part of a stacked 17-team field featuring 12 top-25 teams per Golfstat.
Tournament host No. 2 South Carolina and No. 3 Southern California are the headliners, while No. 5 Arkansas, defending champion No. 6 Duke, No. 8 Louisiana State and No. 9 Mississippi State round out the top-10 participants. No. 16 Tennessee, No. 12 Wake Forest, Virginia, No. 17 Vanderbilt and No. 20 Furman bring the count of top-20 competitors to 11.
The Cavaliers finished 13th of 17 teams last year, shooting 51-over 903 to end up 41 strokes back of Duke. Then-freshman Lauren Diaz-Yi led the Cavaliers at 10-over 223, placing 26th, while then-senior Portland Rosen and then-sophomore Lauren Coughlin shot 12-over 225 to tie for 36th.
Blue Devils then-freshman Yu Liu — the reigning ACC Rookie of the Year — captured medalist honors after shooting 2-under 211 and defeating LSU then-freshman Caroline Nistrup in a tiebreaker.
No. 29 Auburn, No. 27 Alabama, No. 19 Arizona State, No. 55 North Carolina, No. 57 Kentucky and No. 69 Georgia fill out the 2015 field.
—compiled by Matthew Morris
Softball
What: Virginia (4-14, 1-2 ACC) vs. Georgia Tech (7-12, 0-3 ACC)
Where: The Park
When: Saturday, 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m.; Sunday, 12:00 p.m.
The Skinny: In the home-opening series, weather permitting, Virginia softball is set to host Georgia Tech this weekend.
The Cavaliers will play a three-game series against the Yellow Jackets over the course of the weekend. The games will commence with a doubleheader Saturday starting at 1:00 p.m., followed by the series finale on Sunday at 12:00 p.m.
The home-opening series was set to take place last weekend against Pittsburgh, but the games were moved to Florence, South Carolina due to snow. In that series, Virginia held their own against the Panthers, demonstrating the team’s resiliency with a myriad of rallies and come-from-behind runs, before ultimately dropping the series 1-2.
The weather again forced the Cavaliers to alter its plans Wednesday, as the impending snow prompted the postponement of the Cavaliers’ doubleheader against James Madison to March 18. The Cavaliers should be well-rested as they head into their games against Georgia Tech.
Virginia holds the all-time series against the Yellow Jackets by a slim margin of 38-34. In their last encounter, Georgia Tech took a pair of victories from the Cavaliers in a doubleheader in Atlanta. Despite two home runs by then-freshman infielder Madison Labshere, Virginia fell 10-2 in the first game and 3-2 in the second.
After an up-and-down season thus far, the Yellow Jackets are desperately seeking a win as they look to claw their way out of a four-game losing streak and claim their first ACC win.
—compiled by Chuck Siegel
Women’s Lacrosse
What: No. 8 Virginia (3-2, 0-1 ACC) vs. No. 2 North Carolina (5-1, 0-0 ACC)
Where: Chapel Hill, N.C.
When: Saturday, 2:30 p.m.
The Skinny: The Virginia women’s lacrosse team enters its game against No. 2 North Carolina Saturday on a two-game winning streak after beating No. 9 Penn State and Harvard this past week.
It is the first meeting between the two teams since the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Tournament last season, where the Cavaliers ended the Tar Heels’ season with a 10-9 victory. In the game, Virginia was down 8-4 before holding North Carolina scoreless for more than 22 minutes, making six uncontested goals for the comeback victory.
This season, the Tar Heels have already beaten No. 7 Northwestern, a team the Cavaliers lost to earlier this season. North Carolina's only loss has been against defending national champion No. 1 Maryland.
Like Virginia, North Carolina also returns plenty of starters, including eight of their top ten scorers. The Tar Heels also add the fourth-rated recruiting class in the nation on their roster.
Earlier this season, Tar Heel sophomore midfielder Alex Moore, who currently leads the team in goals with 13, was named ACC Offensive Player of the Week. Her teammate, sophomore goalkeeper Caylee Waters was named ACC Defensive Player of the Week that same week after recording 11 saves in a win over Florida.
Brittney Coppa, a preseason All-American team member and redshirt senior midfielder, also leads the North Carolina offense, with 12 goals and 16 draw controls on the season.
—compiled by Chanhong Luu
Swimming and Diving
What: NCAA Zone A Diving Championships
Where: Buffalo, N.Y.
When: Monday-Wednesday
The Skinny: The Virginia swimming and diving teams will head north at the beginning of next week in hopes of qualifying all 11 of their divers for their respective NCAA Championship meets. Last season, five of the participating Cavalier divers earned top-10 scores.
Senior JB Kolod — who won the 3-meter springboard event in addition to placing fifth in the 1-meter and fourth in the platform at last year’s Zone Championships — headlines the divers traveling for Virginia.
A year ago, Kolod used his Zone performance to cement his name as the program’s best ever diver at the NCAA Championship meet. As a junior, he earned All-American honors in the 3-meter and platform events after scoring 19 of the Cavalier men’s team’s 23 points.
On the women’s side, juniors Becca Corbett and Katie Warburg continue to carry the flag for the lady divers. A season ago, they were the only two Virginia females who competed at the event. Corbett holds the program record in the 1-meter dive, while Warburg reclaimed her 3-meter record from Corbett earlier this season at the Cavalier Diving Invitational. Freshman Emily Langworthy will join the junior duo this season at Zones.
—compiled by Robert Elder
Wrestling
What: ACC Wrestling Championships
Where: Pittsburgh, Penn.
When: Sunday, 11 a.m.
The Skinny: Virginia wrestling heads to the Steel City for the ACC Wrestling tournament. A trying 2014-15 regular season has culminated to this, the first leg of the postseason.
No. 14 redshirt sophomore George DiCamillo is the lone Cavalier to receive a No. 1 seed in his bracket. The 2013 champion, DiCamillo will look to win his second ACC title at 133 pounds.
Two reigning ACC champions are No. 2 seeds. No. 4 redshirt senior Nick Sulzer is seeded behind North Carolina redshirt freshman Ethan Ramos — who upset Sulzer this season—at 165 pounds.
No. 6 redshirt junior Blaise Butler is the second seed in the 174-pound bracket. Pittsburgh senior Tyler Wilps is that weight class’ top seed. Wilps defeated Butler 6-2 in January.
Additionally, No. 19 redshirt junior Zach Nye is the No. 2 seed at 197 pounds.
This year, the ACC has received 29 automatic qualifiers to the NCAA Championships. 174 pounds has the most with five, while 157 pounds, 184 pound, 194 pounds and heavyweight are all tied for the fewest with two. Four 141-pounders will qualify automatically. All other weight classes received three automatic qualifying spots.
—compiled by Matthew Wurzburger
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