Dear Mr. Littlepage, I am writing this letter to you to formally complain about your hiring of Mike London. Although everyone else may be thrilled by your choice, I think you forgot to consider one major group while making your decision: sports columnists.
Proven veterans? Check. Stacked recruiting class? Check. An established coach with a documented history of success?
For those of you who spent the summer in some distant land - or didn't open the sports section of your local paper - I'm sorry, but I must be the bearer of some bad news.
Kicking off the new season as the defending national champions, the Cavaliers are now enjoying their highest official expectations since the 2002 season - ranking only behind the Akron Zips, last year's NCAA runner-up. And despite losing several important starters - including Tony Tchani and Neil Barlow, the team's second- and third-most prolific point winners - the Virginia squad seems to share these high expectations. "Defending national champions have a swagger," coach George Gelnovatch said, adding that the team's motivation to play hard has not abated, regardless of the NCAA title to its name.
With more than one-third of the Virginia volleyball lineup new to Grounds, coach Lee Maes has clearly had a busy preseason. "Preseason's been great," Maes said.
As this is my first sports column for The Cavalier Daily, I will briefly describe myself as a sports fan.
If the first games are any indication, it's going to be a banner year for the Virginia women's soccer team.
In the latest edition of 'Athletes Behaving Badly,' the 2010 summer sports season was bursting with material.
At a press conference Wednesday evening, Athletic Director Craig Littlepage reaffirmed the decisions of the No.
[caption id="attachment_34842" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Sophomore infielder Steven Proscia has rebounded from a midseason hitting slump, helping to maintain his Cavaliers' top national ranking and chance of heading to Omaha for the second-straight year.
[caption id="attachment_34840" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Freshman outfielder Taylor Williams is one of Virginia's several surprising underclassmen.
There wasn't much time left for the Capitals, and it was the deciding game seven. Washington was down two goals to none.
[caption id="attachment_34837" align="alignleft" width="222" caption="Junior goalie
[caption id="attachment_34817" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Junior pitcher Robert Morey started against Duke in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament last season and pitched in three NCAA Tournament games.
[caption id="attachment_34815" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Senior midfieler Brittany Kalkstein ranks fourth in NCAA history with 277 draw controls, which is seven shy of the record.
It's been a few months since I've written a column for this newspaper. But during its last week of publication for my last semester of college, I couldn't pass up an offer to have my ugly mug appear on these pages once more. So what do I do with my last column in this paper?
I'm not usually a big fan of writing sports columns in list form, but lists are fun and - more important - fast to finish.
[caption id="attachment_34772" align="alignleft" width="243" caption="Sophomore catcher John Hicks has stepped in nicely for the injured Franco Valdes.
I always imagined writing something eloquent for my final column, but these types of things rarely go as planned.
[caption id="attachment_34769" align="alignleft" width="228" caption="Senior Houston Barrick rallied back to win his singles match against Duke's Jared Pinsky 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-1 to help the Cavaliers clinch the ACC Title Sunday.
