Baseball
What: Virginia vs. Wake Forest
Where: Davenport Field
When: Friday, 3:30 p.m. and 6 p.m.; Saturday, 1 p.m.
The Skinny: The No. 10 Cavaliers (13-5, 2-1 ACC) secured two tight wins over Towson earlier this week, and now host Wake Forest (12-7, 1-2 ACC) in their first home ACC series of 2016. Junior catcher Matt Thaiss will look to continue his torrid streak at the plate. The Jackson, N.J. native collected five hits, including a pair of homers Wednesday afternoon, four RBIs and three runs in 10 at bats versus the Tigers.
Junior shortstop Daniel Pinero also owned Towson pitching, collecting five hits, three runs and one RBI. Pinero has seen his batting average climb well above the .300 mark after a slow start to the season.
Virginia’s streaking junior duo, as well as its sophomore trio of second baseman Ernie Clement, center fielder Adam Haseley and Pavin Smith, has consistently manufactured runs. With exception to their 0-3 loss March 13 to Duke senior pitcher Brian McAffee and an early season 1-6 loss to East Carolina, the Cavaliers have scored four or more runs in every game this year, five times surpassing 10 runs.
Offensive production isn’t a major concern for Virginia. It’s whether that back end of the bullpen will stay composed, throw strikes and hold onto leads, especially when Demon Deacon junior corner infielder Will Craig is swinging the bat, and there’s no base open. The reigning ACC Player of the Year and first-team All American is hitting .458 with seven home runs and 26 RBIs in 2016. If the Cavaliers don't pitch around him, Craig could do serious damage this weekend.
—compiled by Grant Gossage
Men’s Lacrosse
What: Virginia vs. No. 2 Notre Dame
Where: Arlotta Stadium, South Bend, Ind.
When: Saturday, 6 p.m.
The Skinny: The Virginia men’s lacrosse team faces their biggest challenge of the season as they travel to Indiana to face No. 2 Notre Dame in a Saturday night contest. Although the Cavaliers (3-4, 0-1 ACC) have received votes in the USALA Coaches Poll, they fell out of the national rankings after last week’s 14-10 loss to Cornell.
The Fighting Irish (4-1, 0-0 ACC) were ranked preseason No. 1 by Inside Lacrosse going into the season, and held onto their No. 1 NCAA ranking before suffering their first loss last week to Denver, in a game that went into overtime. Notre Dame has yet to face an ACC opponent, and the Cavaliers will be looking to even out their conference record at 1-1 Saturday.
The Fighting Irish are returning first-team All American and senior attackman Matt Kavanaugh, who is the team’s second leading scorer with nine assists and 12 points. Taking the lead for Notre Dame is sophomore attackman Mikey Wynee, who has racked up 16 goals and 17 points overall. Junior goalie Shane Doss is saving 61.1 percent of shots.
Virginia will be hoping to return to the national rankings with a win over Notre Dame and make a mark in the ACC, especially with their close loss to No. 3 Syracuse two weeks ago. Senior attackman James Pannell and junior midfielder Zed Williams lead the Cavaliers in scoring with 12 goals each, and sophomore midfielder Mike D’Amario follows close behind with 10 goals. Pannell is leading the team with 19 points overall. Junior goalie Matt Barrett is saving 44 percent of shots between the shots going into Saturday’s matchup.
—compiled by Mariel Messier
Men’s Tennis
What: Virginia vs. N.C. State, Florida State
Where: Snyder Tennis Center
When: Friday, 3 p.m.; Sunday, 1 p.m.
Having recently reclaimed the No. 1 ranking in the ITA National standings after some strong wins against Tulsa and Oklahoma coupled with a North Carolina loss to Florida State, the Cavaliers are set to host a couple of matches in Charlottesville this weekend.
This Friday, Virginia will host No. 33 N.C. State at 3 p.m. and on Sunday, No. 23 Florida State — fresh off a victory over the then top-ranked Tar Heels — will come to Charlottesville for a match scheduled to take place at 1 p.m. Both matches will take place at the Snyder Tennis Courts in Charlottesville.
Currently undefeated (2-0) in conference play, the Cavaliers would do well to win these two huge conference matches.
A player to watch out for is Florida State’s senior Benjamin Lock, who was just named ACC Player of the Week after his victory in singles against North Carolina propelled his team to a massive upset.
—compiled by Hunter Ostad
Women’s Tennis
What: Virginia at North Carolina State, Wake Forest
Where: Raleigh, N.C.; Winston-Salem, N.C.
When: Saturday, 12 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m.
The Virginia women’s tennis team is set to hit the road this weekend for two crucial ACC matchups. First, the Cavaliers will head to Raleigh, N.C. to take on N.C. State at 12 p.m. this Saturday. Next, they will stay in North Carolina, but travel to Winston-Salem to take on Wake Forest in an early-bird matchup starting at 10 a.m.
Virginia had been playing well recently and risen to the No. 10 spot nationally. The ranking may have even seemed a bit low if you take into account an impressive win against No. 6 Michigan last Saturday. The Cavaliers dropped a tough match to No. 4 Georgia Thursday but understand if they keep competing at such a high level, they could easily see their ranking rise in the near future.
First off, however, Virginia knows it needs to take care of business on the road. Neither the Wolfpack nor Demon Deacons are ranked in the top 25, so the Cavaliers will be favored in both games, but they know they cannot underestimate conference teams on the road.
—compiled by Hunter Ostad
Wrestling
What: NCAA Championships
Where: Madison Square Garden
When: Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m.
The Skinny: The Virginia wrestling team sent five wrestlers to Madison Square Garden for the NCAA Championships, which kicked off Thursday morning at 11 a.m. The Cavaliers (6-7, 1-4 ACC) sent senior Nick Hermann in the 125 pound weight class, junior George DiCamillo at 133 pounds, sophomore Andrew Atkinson in the 157 pound weight class, senior Zach Nye at 197 pounds, and senior Patrick Gillen in the 285 pound weight class.
Virginia has recorded six straight top-30 team finishes in the national tournament, with the team’s best finish being a 10th place tie in 1957. This year’s tournament also marks the 35th year that the Cavaliers have had at least one qualifier at the NCAAs. Current Virginia coach Steve Garland is actually tied for the best finish in Cavalier wrestling history with a second place finish at 125 pounds in 2000.
After Thursday morning’s competition, a pair of Cavaliers remained in the running for a NCAA championship. Hermann was defeated in the 125 pound weight class by No. 15 ranked David Terao from American University by a close 8-6 decision. Atkinson dropped his opening match to No. 9 ranked Richie Lewis of Rutgers, and Gillen was defeated by No. 5 Adam Coon of Michigan in the heavyweight class. All three wrestlers will compete later in the wrestlebacks.
However, DiCamillo was victorious in the 133 pound weight class, as the No. 6 ranked junior defeated Dalton Brady of Arizona State with an 8-4 decision. DiCamillo followed up the win with a 4-3 victory over ACC foe and No. 11 ranked Dom Forys of Pittsburgh in the second round.
Nye also found success Thursday morning, as he defeated his opponent by a sound score of 6-3 in the 197 pound weight class. In second round competition, No. 14 ranked Nye will face No. 3 Brett Pfarr of Minnesota.
The national tournament continues through Saturday, March 19, when the championship rounds will take place.
—compiled by Mariel Messier
Men’s Golf
What: Linger Longer Invitational
Where: Lake Oconee, Ga.
When: Sunday, all day
The 25th-ranked Virginia men’s golf team travels to Lake Oconee, Ga. Sunday to start the three-day Linger Longer Invitational, its fourth tournament of the spring season.
The 13-team tournament features teams from across the South, including seventh-ranked Georgia and eighth-ranked Alabama.
Virginia looks to capitalize on consecutive runner-up finishes in their previous two tournaments, including last weekend at the General Hackler Championship in Myrtle Beach, where junior Jimmy Stanger tied for first place in individual play. The Cavaliers have finished in the top-five in each of their three spring tournaments.
Aside from Georgia and Alabama, the remainder of the field includes No. 24 Purdue, No. 30 Baylor, No. 43 Augusta, No. 49 Louisville, Missouri, Kennesaw State, Mercer, South Alabama, UNC Charlotte and UNC-Greensboro.
A strong finish at the Linger Longer would do well for Virginia, who have a roughly month-long break until they next take the course April 16th for the Wolfpack Invitational in Raleigh.
—compiled by Grayson Kemper
Women’s Rowing
What: Virginia vs. Yale
Where: Rivanna River; Earlysville, Virginia
When: Saturday, 4 p.m.
The Skinny: No. 4 Virginia will host No. 6 Yale this Saturday on the Rivanna River in Earlysville, Va. Coming off of an impressive showing at last weekend’s Oak Ridge Invitational, where the Cavaliers posted 11 race wins on Saturday and a six race sweep Sunday, Virginia aims to keep that momentum going into this weekend.
Last weekend’s success also landed the Cavalier’s First Varsity Eight a spot as the Atlantic Coast Conference Crew of the week. The impressive times posted last weekend by Virginia will be needed when facing the Bulldogs.
This will be Yale’s first meet of the spring season. Ranked 6th in the US Rowing preseason poll, the Bulldogs look to start this spring with the same strength they ended with in the fall, where they had three crews place in the top 14 at the Princeton Chase. Yale’s First Varsity Eight, in particular, ended the season on a high note – placing third in that same meet.
—compiled by Emily Caron
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