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(09/11/08 4:40am)
After sweeping the Days Inn JMU Invitational Aug. 29 to 30, Virginia’s volleyball team dropped two of three matches in the Denver Pioneer Invitational this past weekend. The Cavaliers will look to bounce back from these losses when they host the Marriott Jefferson Cup this weekend. The team will start with in-state rival VCU Friday, then take on Binghamton and Appalachian State Saturday.Despite the close 2-3 loss to Iowa (25-15, 25-20 21-25, 21-25, 9-15) and the disappointing final results in Denver, a few aspects of the performances by the Cavaliers (4-2) shone brightly. Junior outside hitter Lauren Dickson posted two double-doubles, including 17 kills and 20 digs in the match against Iowa.“We played pretty well but could have come away with more wins than we did,” Dickson said. “I think we’ll learn from it and just get better from here on out.”VCU comes to Charlottesville with a 3-3 record, including two matches against ACC teams; the Rams swept N.C. State Aug. 29 but were hammered by Maryland in a 0-3 loss the next day. Binghamton, meanwhile, brings in a 3-4 record including a narrow defeat against Syracuse. Appalachian State has struggled thus far, only able to eke out one win in its first seven games.Another compelling factor in the weekend’s tournament is that Appalachian State is coached by Matt Ginipro, an assistant coach and recruiter for the Cavaliers from 2001 through spring 2007.“I’m excited,” Dickson said. “We’ll get to compete against him and that will be fun.”Players and coaches have expressed how enthusiastic they are about playing at home after two weekends of road tournaments.“It’s always nice to have a home tournament,” Dickson said.The games this weekend be the first played with home-court advantage for the freshmen, including outside hitter Simone Asque.“It marks the beginning of my collegiate career at home,” Asque said. “Even if I don’t play, I still warmed up and was part of the team, so it’ll be special.”Virginia coach Lee Maes was not shy in expressing his desire to have fans packing the stands of Mem Gym.“That’s what we’re looking for; we’re trying to get the whole ‘Hoo nation out and make it one of those more intimidating environments to play in,” he said. “We’re extremely excited about ... creating a loud environment that will get all of our opponents to the point where they know that it’s not just about six people they’re competing against. They’re competing against hundreds of people.”Maes also noted his satisfaction with the players’ continued hard work. When asked if the work ethic has been good, Maes responded “No question.”“The attitude has been phenomenal,” he said. “The effort’s been phenomenal, the level of communication’s been phenomenal.”Following this weekend’s tournament, the Cavaliers head to Chicago to play in the Northwestern Tournament Sept. 19 to 20, Virginia’s last tournament before the conference schedule begins and the Cavaliers begin working toward their ultimate goal of winning the ACC Championship.
(09/10/08 4:40am)
The first sporting event I attended as a University student was the home football game against Duke Sept. 8, 2007. A year later, I bleed orange and blue. With everything that’s happened this year, how could I not be a die-hard fan? Championships, stumbles, glory, defeat — this past year has seen it all. I’d like to share a countdown of my 11 favorite moments and games of my first year as a Cavalier.11. Field Hockey – Virginia 2, Old Dominion 0 (Sept. 7, 2008)This past Sunday saw a field hockey match more engaging than any I’ve seen before. Scoreless until the last 15 minutes, the game pitted a stifling defensive effort by the No. 11 Cavaliers against a phenomenal goalkeeping performance by the No. 8 Monarchs’ goalkeeper, Kelly Driscoll. From the opening whistle to the final buzzer, it was an intense and physical game that increased my appreciation of the sport. Be sure to catch a game on the University Hall Turf Field sometime before the season’s over; this year’s squad is a special one.10. Meeting Jameel SewellThrough being a reporter and a member of various pep bands, I’ve met dozens of varsity athletes representing the University, but none has had more charm than our former starting quarterback. When I first met him, he looked me in the eye as I talked, thanked me when I complimented him on his performance the weekend before and smiled as we talked. A week later, I passed him in Observatory Hill Dining Hall, and he, without prompt, greeted me like an old friend even though we’d only talked once. He emanates charisma and strength. Not only do I miss his clutch play on the gridiron, but I miss having him as a positive force on a team so overwhelmingly negative right now.9. Experiencing the Wahooligans first-handYou’ve worn your shirt and tie to a football game and decked yourself in orange for some basketball games in John Paul Jones Arena, so you think you’re a big-shot Cavalier fan, huh? I’m not sure you can say you’ve really experienced U.Va. sports unless you’ve sat in the stands of a men’s soccer home game. The students who fill the bleachers of Klöckner Stadium have their own array of chants and traditions, and I’d be surprised if even one of them leaves a game with his or her voice.8. Sharneé Zoll breaks the ACC career assist recordI hope you all were keeping up with Debbie Ryan’s scrappy squad last season. The girls fought hard all season long and were rewarded with a fourth seed in the NCAA Tournament. One of the great moments of the season was when point guard Sharneé Zoll broke Dawn Staley’s ACC record for career assists. Zoll, who was taken in the WNBA draft but is currently without a team, is the type of player who makes those around her play well.7. Sean Singletary scores his 2,000th pointEven though I only got to watch him for one season, Sean Singletary proved to me without doubt that he’s something special on the court. No matter how disappointing you thought the season was, you have to give credit to Sean for refusing to give up. Watching Sean play, I see the same fire that I see when I watch Allen Iverson or Kobe Bryant taking the court. The loudest cheers I’ve ever heard at a sporting event came when Sean scored his 2,000th career point and entered the class of the greatest offensive producers in Cavalier history.6. Men’s Lacrosse – Virginia 13, Johns Hopkins 12, OT (March 22, 2008)The hyped-up clash of the titans did not disappoint. The 2006 National Champions topped the 2007 National Champions in a back-and-forth match displaying some of the finest, white-knuckle intense lacrosse I’ve ever seen. Brian Carroll slipped the ball into the Blue Jays’ goal with 8 seconds left in the sudden-death overtime to secure Virginia’s victory.5. Meeting Steve GarlandThe more coaches I meet, the more impressed I am with the ability athletics director Craig Littlepage has to pick the right personnel for the University. The coach who left me with the biggest impression was the first one I met. Wrestling coach Steve Garland might be my favorite person in all of Virginia sports. In interviews, he talks about his athletes the way a parent would talk about his or her children: with pride, great compassion and high expectations. The Cavaliers’ quick rise to the cream of the ACC crop — they missed the conference title by inches — and superb recruiting under Garland are important, but the high standard of character he brings to the program is even more so.4. Men’s Basketball – Virginia 80, Old Dominion 76 (March 24, 2008)Hope you didn’t blink. In a matter of a few seconds as the clock was winding down, Sean Singletary singlehandedly turned a disappointing loss into a dramatic victory. I don’t care if you’re playing in the Collegiate Basketball Invitational or for the national championship — it takes a tremendous athlete to grasp a game from the claws of defeat the way Sean did, especially when a loss means the end of a season and a collegiate career.3. Football – Virginia 18, Maryland 17 (Oct. 20, 2007)It took barely a month of being a Cavalier fan before I got to see a classic live. That’s right — I was lucky enough to be in College Park to see the thriller with my very own eyes. As some fourth-string running back named Mikell Simpson outgained the entire Terrapin team and Chris Long cemented his status as a U.Va. legend, the Cavaliers staged the most dramatic and improbable of comebacks.2. Thousands protest the no-sign policyIt took the frustration of a 52-7 loss and a spark from ESPN columnist Rick Reilly, but the ‘Hoo Crew and the thousands of Virginia fans at Saturday’s football game finally proved to me that they have the fire in their belly needed to make Virginia the greatest university for sports in the nation. Don’t relent, Cavaliers: Keep writing those angry e-mails to the athletic department and get some clever signs ready for the next home game: Oct. 4 against Maryland.1. Women’s Basketball – Virginia 103, Georgia Tech 101, 2OT (March 2, 2007)A lot of those other events were special, but there is no question in my mind which game deserves the top spot. On senior day, the Cavaliers sent off Tara McKnight and Sharneé Zoll, both team captains and fan favorites, with their most exciting and important game of the season. Sharneé passed on her role as the leader of the offense to the rising star Monica Wright. McKnight, a former walk-on, finally got her start. Virginia overcame a 15-point deficit and three times used last-second heroics, twice to tie and once to finish off the Yellow Jackets in the highest-scoring women’s basketball game you’ll ever see. To cap it all off, the athletes came out of the locker room after the game to meet the fans and sign autographs. Thrilling and dramatic, this game was the perfect way to end the regular season for the Cavaliers and the highlight of the year for me as a Virginia fan.
(09/04/08 4:04am)
The accomplishments Virginia women’s volleyball coach Lee Maes and his teams achieved while he was the head assistant coach at Nebraska are numerous and impressive: a national championship, three conference championships and 13 All-Americans.Now in his first season as the head coach of the Cavaliers, Maes hopes to bring similar accolades to Virginia.“Our expectation every season is to have the opportunity to compete for the ACC Championship with the goal of also earning an NCAA berth,” Maes said. “We expect to be successful.”Such goals might seem lofty for a team that finished with an 18-13 record in 2007, but the team already has had a quick start, sweeping the Days Inn JMU Invitational. Virginia has another three-game tournament this weeked at the Denver Pioneer Invitational, where the Cavaliers will take on Denver, Tennessee and Iowa.The gameplan Maes brings to the Cavaliers focuses on having each player fulfill her role in a system rather than having the team rely on individuals making athletic plays.The players “have been very receptive and responsive to what we’ve been trying to instill,” Maes said, adding that they “have demonstrated a level of determination to make the learning curve a lot smaller.”Maes noted that the task of learning the system is a lot to ask of the incoming freshmen, but said they have handled the stress well so far.Freshman outside hitter Simone Asque was one of the top recruits for the Cavaliers this past season: Asque was ranked No. 79 as a senior in high school by PrepVolleyball.com.Preparing “has been lots of hard work with lots of hard and intense sessions,” Asque said. “But I think it’s really going to make a difference.”Asque, along with outside hitter Kelly Rhein and middle hitters Tess Udall and Hillary Trebels, is one of the four incoming freshmen joining the team. The promising class of recruits is a big part of what Maes has described as his hope for where the Cavaliers will be in the next several years.“The ultimate vision is to have the opportunity to win a national championship,” Maes said. “The future will take care of itself, in a sense, if we focus on what we do now, knowing there’s a positive effect of what we do now.”The kind of program Maes works to develop is not isolated to earning wins out on the court, however; the Virginia women’s volleyball program is also revising the way it markets the sport and the way it fosters a devoted fan base.“It’s focused on ... being the best that we can absolutely be,” Maes said. “That goes from how we prepare, that goes with how we recruit, how we administer [games] and how we just run this program in general.”Among the top priorities the coaches have raised for the rest of this season include developing a distinct, consistent playing style and personality for the team.“There are a lot of philosophical and conceptual things we would like our team to understand,” Maes said. “As the season goes on, I think we’ll start evolving and creating our own identity.”The Cavaliers show early signs of developing a team concept: Clean, efficient play has been a point of emphasis in the intense preseason workouts and the decisive tournament victories.Maes noted that efficiency is a main goal for Virginia this season.“Ultimately, that’s what we want to be as a team,” Maes said. “That’s what I think fans can see. I think they’re going to see a disciplined group.”The team, however, is still a work in progress and has a long way to go to reach its goal of winning championships. Nevertheless, this season promises to be an exciting one for the Cavaliers as they attempt to translate their hard work on and off the court in applying their coaches’ philosophies into winning games.
(09/03/08 8:10am)
I’m sure most college sports fans can tell you what George Mason did in 2006: It made an unlikely run to the Final Four. And it’s pretty common knowledge what Boise State did in 2007 to get its athletic program into the national spotlight: It came back to upset Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl with a few trick plays.But those two schools can eat their hearts out. When Fresno State won the College World Series this year, it blew those other two upsets — and any other impressive upsets of recent years — out of the water. When the Bulldogs finished off Georgia 6-1 to secure the national title, it was the greatest upset since ... well, I can’t really come up with a valid comparison. It’s truly one of the biggest Cinderella stories in the history of college athletics. I’m going to go out on a limb and call it the upset of the century.“Write it down. Underdog does not mean anything,” Tommy Mendonca, a Fresno State third baseman, told ESPN after his team won the championship. “We showed anything can happen.”Fresno State began the season ranked in the top 25 before dropping 12 of its first 20 games of the season. At that point, the school was barely considered a factor in its conference, let alone a contender for the national title. Fresno State predicting it would win the national championship then would have been roughly equivalent to Al Groh claiming Virginia’s football team would win the national championship in the press conference after last weekend’s USC game.When the regular season ended, Fresno State had a measly 33-27 record. That’s middle of the pack — and in a mid-major conference. Fresno State had no chance at an at-large berth in the 64-spot NCAA Tournament, so nothing short of winning the conference tournament could have kept the team alive. Fortunately for the Bulldogs, and people everywhere who love to see David topple Goliath, the Bulldogs survived the WAC Tournament and headed to nationals.The NCAA Tournament seeds were announced, and Fresno State was handed a fourth seed in its region. This ranking is the equal to being seeded between 13th and 16th in the NCAA Tournament for basketball. Remember that George Mason got all that coverage from being a 10 seed.The Bulldogs’ run once the tournament started was nothing short of miraculous. They began with a win against No. 3 national seed Arizona State and then took on No. 6 Rice, winning decisively 17-5. The Bulldogs held on to beat No. 2 North Carolina in the semifinals and finally took the championship win against No. 8 Georgia. A run like that is unprecedented.The whole event is somewhat paradigm-shifting. Who says a third-party candidate won’t win the presidential election this fall? Who says you can’t pull up that D to an A in the last two weeks of the semester? Remember Fresno State. Write it down. Underdog does not mean anything.If I still haven’t convinced you that Fresno State winning the College World Series is the upset of the century, here’s a fact: No team seeded outside of the top 48 teams, besides Fresno State, has ever made it to a Final Four in any sport in NCAA history. Fresno State not only made it there, it won it all.“They’re a true champion, and they did it the hard way,” Georgia coach David Perno, whose team fell to Fresno State in the finals, told ESPN. No kidding, coach.For any team, surviving 10 conference and national tournament matches against teams ranked in the top 20 in the nation would be a huge challenge. That a team barely considered worthy to be in the NCAA Tournament pulled it off is simply astonishing.I started following the Bulldogs when I heard about them making it to the national semifinals. I watched as the Bulldogs topped Georgia to secure the title. The next morning, as I searched the Washington Post’s sports section, Fresno State’s victory barely received a mention on page two of the section. It’s sad, really, that the upset of the century didn’t receive more love from the press. I’m sure there a few underdogs out there who could have used some inspiration.Next time you feel like the odds are against you and the man is on your back bugging you, think of the Bulldogs. Think of what it must have felt like to be given the lowest seed in a tournament, not given a chance by so-called experts to win it. Remember the upset of the century. And then, write it down: Underdog does not mean anything.
(09/02/08 7:31am)
The Lee Maes era began with a bang this past weekend as Virginia’s volleyball team swept the James Madison University Days Inn Invitational to begin its season at 3-0 (0-0 ACC). Maes joined the Cavaliers in February after a search for a coach began in December when Melissa Aldrich Shelton stepped down from the position.The 3-0 start, the first for Virginia since the 2003-4 season, follows a preseason that players and coaches alike described as physically intense.Sophomore right side hitter Kendahl Voelker, who recorded 10 kills in the tournament championship match against James Madison, said the team has been training at a high level under Maes and new assistant coaches Ted Wade and Jill Kramer.“We’re getting it done in the gym,” Voelker said. “I think it’s really going to reflect on the court.”Maes, who has been preparing with the team for more than a month, complimented the squad’s work during the preseason.“The players have been absolutely fantastic with their level of effort [and] with ... their attitude,” Maes said. “We’ve been really fortunate to have a great group of players that have done everything we’ve asked of them.”The Cavaliers’ next test comes this weekend, when they will head west to Denver to play in the Denver Pioneer Classic. The following weekend, Sept. 12 to 13, the Cavaliers will host the Marriott Jefferson Cup in Memorial Gym. Among the teams headed to Charlottesville for the tournament are Binghamton, Appalachian State and in-state opponent Virginia Commonwealth.The final tournament in which the Cavaliers are scheduled to play before the conference slate begin takes place Sept. 19 to 20 in Chicago. The Northwestern Tournament will provide Virginia an early opportunity to prove themselves against the nation’s elite; along with Georgetown and host Northwestern, the Cavaliers are scheduled to play No. 6 UCLA.The Cavaliers open their conference schedule Sept. 23 in Blacksburg against the Hokies. The following weekend, Georgia Tech and Clemson come to Charlottesville. No. 19 Clemson is the only ACC team ranked in the top 25, and Georgia Tech was picked by pollsters to finish right behind the Tigers in preseason ACC polls.Voelker said that weekend’s matches, which could be an early barometer as to how Maes’ squad will fare against the ACC’s elite this season, are two matchups she is really looking forward to this season.“We gave [Clemson] their only loss [against an ACC team] last year,” Voelker said. “We’re going to have get it done and take down the top ACC teams.”Following the Sept. 27 match against the Tigers, the Cavaliers face a stretch that spans nearly three weeks in which every game will be on the road. Important matches during that stretch include an Oct. 10 face-off in Chapel Hill, N.C. against North Carolina.Of the 13 regular-season games following that set of away games, nine of them are scheduled to be played in Memorial Gym. Among this final stretch of matches, Voelker highlighted two home matches, the Oct. 17 clash against Duke and the Nov. 28 regular season finale against Virginia Tech, as two of the team’s biggest. Maes, however, pointed out that he and his coaching staff will treat every game as a big one.“With every opponent in the conference, we’re going to prepare the same way,” Maes said. “Every team is going to bring their best game.”The Cavaliers enter the 2008 season with the high expectation of bringing Virginia an ACC title. With a long stretch of away games and multiple matches against some of the highly touted teams in the conference, it will be a long road for the Cavaliers. But with a new coaching staff, a disciplined workout ethic and a promising start, nothing seems impossible for Virginia’s squad.
(08/27/08 9:33pm)
Imagine you are hiking and you come to a hill. The path goes right over the hill to the other side. Most hikers wouldn’t think twice about going up and then down the hill to the other side. It’s just part of hiking.That’s not what the NCAA would do, though. They would stop hiking, then hire someone to drill a tunnel through the hill. Once the tunnel was built, they’d debate whether they even wanted to finish the hike or not.This is essentially the approach the NCAA has taken with picking a college football champion in the Football Bowl Subdivision. After working hard all season to facilitate a healthy, competitive atmosphere, they get to the part of the season when they have to pick a national champion. Instead of doing it themselves, they essentially outsource the duties to the conferences and the bowls. These groups have come up with their own unwieldy system to pick a champion called the Bowl Championship Series, more commonly referred to as the BCS. The NCAA, however, never even uses this system to officially crown a champion. Instead, the BCS and media make the final call. Thus, the NCAA’s inactivity results in a big sloppy jumble assigned with picking a college football champion.The BCS uses various polls and computer formulas to determine who can play in which bowl games. Each of these bowl games serves as a sort of surrogate postseason, attempting to pit two evenly matched teams against each other in a single game. The net result is that only the two teams determined by the computers and polls to be worthy of the BCS National Championship Game have a shot at the title. Everyone else gets to fight to be one of the runners-up.Like using the path to hike over the hill, there has always been a logical way to conquer the task of determining a national champion: a playoff pitting several of the best teams against each other. Just about every major sport on every level uses this system in some capacity. It’s absurd that the FBS hasn’t used it in college football.And yet, here we are, 10 years after the inception of the BCS, and they’re still working on finishing the tunnel. You see, the tunnel has had its fair share of problems — the supports have crumbled and caved in multiple times. The BCS keeps assuring us that it’s safe and stable, but the falling clumps of dirt suggest otherwise.Nearly every season since the BCS has been implemented has seen some major controversy or disagreement. In its first season, 1998, a one-loss Kansas State missed out on all four of the major bowls. 2000, 2001 and 2003 each saw one-loss teams with reasonable claims to the title games – Miami, Oregon, and USC respectively — denied a shot at the championship. Another nefarious incident occurred in 2004 when undefeated Auburn was left out of the title game and finished 14-0, yet ranked second in the polls. Finally, 2006 and 2007 each resulted in wild finishes that further highlighted the absurdities of the BCS.The biggest victims of the system aren’t the schools from the major conferences, but the schools from the little conferences. Look at Utah in 2004 and Boise State in 2006. Each team went the entire season undefeated, including a win at a major bowl game, but was never in consideration for the title game because of its weak schedule. Who says teams of less prestigious pedigrees are any less worthy of a shot at a championship? The Utes and Broncos each conquered every challenge given to them, but still ended up ranked lower than other teams.There have been so many controversies surrounding the BCS that you’d think the NCAA would step up and take control of crowning a football champion. But the organization, usually so proficient and effective, just sits there.A few arguments have been tossed out against the idea of a playoff system. First, the sponsorship-bloated bowl games generate a lot of money and coverage, and the NCAA doesn’t want to lose this. Interest in a football playoff would be so big, though, that I’m sure it would ultimately earn as much or more than the current system if implemented properly.It’s also been said that the bowl system is special, that playing in a bowl holds a special value for schools and athletes. People, however, said the same thing about the National Invitation Tournament before the NCAA basketball tournament known as March Madness began to ascend as the elite post-season tournament. College basketball’s playoff system is now regarded as one of the most exciting and successful in sports. A football playoff could be just as exciting.There’s no reason bowl games need to be scrapped completely. They can work similarly to how they do now, with specific conference tie-ins on an invitational basis. However, there needs to be a tournament separate from the bowls to decide the champion. It’s the only natural and logical step at this point.If the NCAA needs ideas about how to implement it, here’s one: take the 11 conference champs and a single at-large team. Seed them using the computers and polls the BCS seems to love so much. Then, set these 12 teams up in a bracket with the top four teams earning byes. The NCAA can trim the season length from 12 games to 11, like it used to be, if they don’t want football to drag on for quite that long.Don’t expect to the NCAA to adopt this idea or any other intelligent set-up in the near future, though. They trust their tunnel through the hill more than ever, even as it constantly threatens to crumble right on top of them.
(08/23/08 6:38am)
The sighs of disappointment after the Cavaliers were beaten in the Gator Bowl by Texas Tech, the moans of disbelief after five key players left the team because of academic and disciplinary issues, the cheers for Chris Long as he was taken with the second pick in the 2008 NFL Draft: All of the noise and commotion from the end of last season has cleared. Cavalier fans everywhere sit silent. All are anxious about what fortune this football season will bring to U.Va. Then, a sound faintly breaks the silence.Tick, tick, tick. The clock for Al Groh and his opportunity to bring U.Va’s football program to the ACC’s elite is winding down.It might be hard to believe Al Groh and his program are in danger right now. After all, Groh was the 2007 ACC Coach of the Year. Virginia’s season last year was a great one, with the Cavaliers pulling off nine wins despite being blown out by Wyoming in their first game.Groh’s contributions take form through more than just wins, too. He deserves as much credit as anyone for helping to bring U.Va. from a fledgling to a mid-level ACC program.The coach, however, is in trouble. Last season was deceptive. A combination of chance, leadership by Long, among others, and the icy veins of Jameel Sewell led to an impressive record in a weak division. Give the coach props for keeping the season together, but don’t extend his contract just yet. He still has something to prove: consistency.Groh’s weakest skill as a coach is recruiting. With tight academic standards, U.Va. will always have some difficulty recruiting, but results have been simply abysmal recently. The Cavaliers’ incoming class ranked 61st in the nation, according to the popular recruiting Web site Rivals.com. To put that into an ACC perspective, these new Hoos ranked only above the newest set of Blue Devils as the second-worst rated recruiting class in the conference. Duke, whose presence in the ACC is mostly just as the punchline of jokes, tied for 65th, a mere four spots behind the Cavaliers.Recruitment is the building block of success in college football. You can have one solid year while recruiting poorly, but you can never have a solid and consistent program in a major conference unless you place in the top 30 or so without fail. You think USC wins games because Pete Carroll gives good motivational speeches? He gets the players who can win championships, and it’s time we did, too.That’s not to say I have any problems with Groh as a person or that I think he’s a detriment to U.Va. I’ve listened to him talk, read his interviews and even shaken his hand. He’s a first-class guy, a gentleman and a great speaker. I’m glad to have him as one of the faces of the University. Unless he can get a steady stream of blue chip recruits, though, he’s got to go.Groh isn’t the only one who has to step up his game. There is another entity discreetly bringing down the Cavalier football program. Want to know who it is? Go look in a mirror.That’s right, Virginia football fans are pretty lousy — with occasional exceptions. There are a few hundred students who show up early to every game, who paint their faces and deck themselves out in all orange and crank the decibels up on every play. Those of you in that category, keep up the good work. Keep firing up your friends and classmates and keep wearing out your voices every Saturday in Scott Stadium.Ever been to a Virginia Tech home game in Lane Stadium? How about a home game at Notre Dame in South Bend? Pick any historic football program, go there for a game day and you’ll be able to feel the difference between football programs that are for real and programs that aren’t quite sure how real they are. We fall into the latter category. There’s a certain magic in tens of thousands of people shouting at the top of their lungs, all in one of two matching colors, all staying until the final second. U.Va. has seen flashes of it from time to time, but never for a whole game or a whole season.In case you don’t believe me, I’ll provide one example. Last season, as the Cavaliers were marching down the field en route to kicking a game-winning field goal against Wake Forest, I saw dozens of fans headed for the exits. If we want to be a big-time football program, we have to act that way.So as Al Groh’s clock continues to tick and the coach proves whether or not he can, after six years here at the University, really pull us towards greatness, let’s show the world we’re ready for what Groh is trying to accomplish.
(04/25/08 4:00am)
The Virginia baseball team will leave the pleasant Charlottesville spring behind when it suits up for a series in Miami, Fla. this weekend. It's far from a vacation for the Cavaliers, however; along with the Florida sun and beach breeze, they have to take on No. 1 Miami in a pivotal conference series.
(04/21/08 4:00am)
When freshman centerfielder Jarrett Parker cracked the first pitch of his at-bat in the bottom of the 11th to deep left-center and sophomore pinch-runner Corey Hunt tagged up on third before darting home to score the game-winning run, the Virginia dugout emptied and piled on top of Parker. The Cavalier celebration on the field lasted for several minutes and the crowd gave the team a standing ovation.
(04/18/08 4:00am)
The Cavaliers will look to translate the success from their undefeated regular season into a conference title in this weekend's ACC Championship.
(04/18/08 4:00am)
After stumbling in the final innings of Wednesday's game against No. 19 Coastal Carolina, No. 16 Virginia plans to shuffle its roster in preparation for a home weekend series against Wake Forest.
(04/16/08 4:00am)
The first sport I want to talk about in this column is baseball, because that's what the Detroit Tigers play. I spent all of last year as a struggling engineering student at Virginia Tech, and I took a workshop under a graduate student named Brian Bluhm, whom I would occasionally run into around campus. While he was always dressed in business casual during classes, he always donned a dark blue Tigers cap when I saw him around Blacksburg.
(04/11/08 4:00am)
Having ended last week's four-game losing streak with two consecutive midweek wins, Virginia's No. 24 baseball team carries momentum heading to Maryland for this weekend's series.
(04/09/08 4:00am)
The Cavaliers, led by freshman starter Jake Cowan and junior DH Greg Miclat, put a four-game losing streak behind them with a 6-0 shutout Tuesday afternoon against Longwood.
(04/04/08 4:00am)
Despite a No. 14 ranking, the Virginia baseball team has sometimes performed erratically. From the Cavaliers' young roster has emerged inconsistency; blowout losses to teams barely mustering a .500 record have been mixed with big wins against nationally ranked conference opponents. In today's baseball culture, most starters for respected college baseball programs have a good shot at being drafted by professional teams. For this reason, it is common to see players leaving college early to give professional baseball a shot.
(04/04/08 4:00am)
Undefeated and ranked No. 1 nationally, the Virginia men's tennis team continues its quest for an undefeated season Friday at No. 10 North Carolina and Sunday at No. 41 Duke.
(04/03/08 4:00am)
The off-balance shot leapt from junior forward Lyndra Littles' fingers. The buzzer sounded as the ball flew wide left of the hoop. Air ball. Senior point guard and captain Sharneé Zoll collapsed to the ground in tears.
(04/02/08 4:00am)
After losing eight of nine games in the Red and Black Tournament and Cavalier Classic, the Virginia softball team has an opportunity to win three games in a row for the second time this season with a doubleheader Wednesday against Longwood University.
(03/28/08 4:00am)
Virginia's No. 18 baseball team snapped an 18-game home winning streak in its 17-5 blowout loss Wednesday to George Washington University. With three home games at Davenport Field against Virginia Tech this weekend, the Cavaliers have a chance to return to their winning ways and prove the big loss was a fluke. Virginia will suit up against the Hokies Friday night at 6, Saturday afternoon at 1 and Sunday afternoon at 1.
(03/20/08 4:00am)
Freshmen Sanam Singh and Michael Shabaz of the Virginia men's tennis team, each ranked among the top 5 in junior-level competition, were expected to come into Virginia's prestigious tennis program and make an immediate impact.