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Cavaliers hope beach winds blow in better performances

After disappointment in Tulsa, team heads to Virginia Beach for ITA Regional

After an unfulfilling run at the ITA All-American Championships last week in Tulsa, Okla., the Virginia men's tennis team hopes for a better showing as it prepares to take the court at the ITA Atlantic Regional this weekend at Old Dominion University in Virginia Beach.

When Virginia left Charlottesville for Tulsa last week, the Cavaliers held high hopes of capturing their first-ever ITA All-American title. The tournament started well for the Virginia, but one-by-one, the team's singles competitors started to fall. The worst part came when juniors Sanam Singh and Michael Shabaz and sophomore Drew Courtney went down with two days remaining in the competition.

Despite not returning to Grounds with a trophy, the Cavaliers do not feel as if the weekend was a total wash.

"It's a tough, 10-day tournament with every good player in the country playing," senior Houston Barrick said. "We didn't win the title but we got good momentum and had a good preview of some top players. Hopefully, we'll be able to use the momentum to take the next step in Regionals."

Coach Brian Boland reiterated the senior's remarks.

"The team competed in a high number of matches and continued to get better," Boland said. "[The team] is coming along nicely."

Singh will be a crucial component of the team's continued improvement. As the highest ranked Cavalier in competition, the junior advanced to the round of 16 with a victory against junior Jay Goldman of Arizona but fell 6-1, 6-3to Kentucky sophomore Eric Quigley later in the day Friday. Shabaz joined his teammate in the Sweet 16 with a win against Texas A&M junior Jeff Dadamo before losing in straight sets to Tennessee junior John-Patrick Smith, the tournament's eventual winner.

Before the tournament, Boland stressed his team's need to improve its doubles play, and the Cavaliers responded to their coach's challenge with a strong performance at the All-American. The Virginia doubles teams advanced further than their singles' counterparts, with the pair of Shabaz and Barrick reaching the quarterfinals before falling to the Stanford tandem of sophomores Bradley Klahn and Ryan Thacher - the tournament's fifth seed.

At the regional tournament this weekend, Virginia looks to develop both at an individual and team level. For collegiate tennis players, the fall season is meant as a time for learning new skills and for growing into a cohesive unit in preparation for the more rigorous spring schedule.

"[We're] trying to implement individual things and working on coming together as a team," Boland said. "We need to focus on our performance and getting better each and every day."

As Barrick said, the Cavaliers must continue to grow with each match. While the team dreams of bringing home a title, the ITA Atlantic Regional and other fall tournaments are about more than just the hardware.

"The main goal is to bring back the title, of course, but only one doubles team and one singles player can win," Barrick said. "You just have to move forward and keep playing matches. [We are] looking forward to the spring season, and our confidence should be high as we continue to test what we have against other top teams"

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