One week after suffering surprising losses to Michigan and Ohio State at the ACC/Big Ten Regatta, the Virginia women's crew team hopes to rebound against Williams College at the Rivanna Reservoir tomorrow. The Cavaliers' final home competition will launch at 9 a.m.
Williams, a Division III team, poses little threat to the Cavaliers, one of the premier Division I crew teams. But after losing badly to the Wolverines and the Buckeyes on Saturday, the Cavaliers are eager to see the results from a week's worth of intense training.
"Williams is the best Division III team," Virginia coach Kevin Sauer said. "It's a good way for [Williams] to gauge their speed and it will be good test for us."
In the ACC/Big Ten Regatta on Saturday, the Cavalier first varsity eight and first varsity four lost a combined four races by an average of 6.65 seconds. Although both Michigan and Ohio State were peaking at the meet and Virginia does not expect to peak until the NCAA Women's Rowing Championship in May, the Cavaliers were shocked by the amount of time they must make up to compete with the upper echelon crew teams.
"I was surprised by how much they spanked us," Sauer said. "We haven't been beaten that bad in a while. As a coach, I realized that we're not where we need to be."
Virginia also believes that the strong tailwind on Saturday worked to the Wolverines' and Buckeyes' advantage.
"We're blessed and cursed to have the Rivanna [Reservoir as a practice facility] because it's sunken down a little bit, so the wind doesn't get through and the water is like glass," Cavalier junior Madeline Engel said. "We have good practice conditions, but when we get in tough conditions, we're a mess."
This week, the Cavaliers have been working primarily on synchronizing their strokes. Engel believes that this will lead to faster speeds.
"As opposed to being quick and light, we're using a long stroke and using each individual muscle as part of a machine," Engel said.
Virginia's progress, however, will not show overnight. Although they have been training hard, the Cavaliers do not expect to row as fast as Michigan and Ohio State against Williams. Instead, the competition against the Ephs gives them a chance to row a full 2000-meter race.
"Williams isn't the most competitive crew, so we're just going to run through it," Engel said. "It gives us a chance to practice a full 2K."
But Virginia hopes that tomorrow's competition will be a stepping stone toward bigger and better things. Although the team faltered against their first taste of top competition, the Cavaliers remain optimistic about a high finish in the NCAA Women's Rowing Championship on May 25-26.
"Don't count us out yet," Engel said. "I think we're going to surprise a lot of people"
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