“It was really a surprise to tell you the truth,” Tiffany said. “As I was running out of LaValle Stadium, somebody from the Stony Brook administration said something … that was a special moment.”
“When we fall behind, we are really good at having a quick answer, and we did that again today,” Pollard said. “That’s what good teams do.”
“I told the team, ‘Fellas, it's so much easier to point towards a win when we turn the season around, but we're going to remember this through the pain and hurt of this losing locker room right now — this is when we turned the season around,” Tiffany said. “We took a huge step today.”
“We just gave them some free offense,” Pollard said. “We spotted a couple of runners, and you can't do that. Paone will learn and grow from that. But I thought [his] stuff was good. I thought he might have fatigued a little bit there around 60 to 70 pitches.”
The Cavaliers will look to carry Sunday's momentum forward as they push deeper into a demanding stretch of conference matchups.
The Cavaliers will next face No. 20 NC State and No. 4 Wake Forest on the road.
“We've got to put four quarters together,” LaMonica said. “I think this was the first time we saw a higher-pressure defense... I think we allowed it to take us out of our abilities a little bit too much."
“Everybody wants to compete for national championships and being in that field is just a blessing,” Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton said. “I'm just really happy for our players that we were able to do enough to get there.”
The 14-seed Raiders (23-11, 15-5 Horizon), coming off a Horizon League title win over Detroit Mercy, will face Virginia having won seven of their last eight games. Led by second-year Coach Clint Sergent, they are a team that thrives at getting to the rim — attempting 43.1 percent of their shots there and making over 60 percent of them.
No. 21 Virginia defeated No. 59 Georgia Tech 4-1 Saturday afternoon at the Ken Byers Tennis Complex, in Atlanta Ga.
For the first time, the entire roster — including the new freshmen — is fully integrated into Coach Wesley Ng's system.
With Kechner leading the way for the team, the six Cavaliers with her took home the victory at the All-Star Tournament.
“Duke made the plays that they needed to make down the stretch to finish it out,” Odom said. “I thought we had a good opportunity there when it was tied, but it just didn't go our way today.”
Weatherspoon’s first at-bat resulted in a booming home run into the left field bleachers. That plate appearance summed up the afternoon — a 10-5 beatdown of rival Virginia Tech.
In order to avoid a season similar to last year’s 6-8 final record — the first losing season of Lars Tiffany’s 10-year tenure at Virginia — the Cavaliers must find a way to win this afternoon in College Park, Md.
No. 2 Virginia defeated No. 49 Duke 4-1 Friday afternoon at the Boar’s Head Sports Club, using a strong doubles start and commanding singles performances to remain unbeaten at home and in conference play.
Two weeks. Two weeks since the biggest loss of Coach Ryan Odom’s tenure in Charlottesville, and the Cavaliers (29-4, 15-3 ACC) will again meet the Blue Devils (31-2, 17-1 ACC), this time at the Spectrum Center in Charlotte, N.C. at 8:30 p.m.
“It's important to respond when they have their runs because they're a good team that is capable of having their runs,” Thomas said. “So answering back was huge.”
Virginia’s power broke out in the bottom of the fifth — Harris reached on an error and Didawick singled before junior infielder Noah Murray turned around a middle-middle breaking ball, driving it into the left field bleachers and putting the Cavaliers on top 6-4.
Virginia now travels to Atlanta, Ga., for a second consecutive round of ACC play as they take on Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets (6-6, 2-2) are coming off a routine 4-0 victory over Virginia Tech (3-7, 0-2). Led by previous No. 47 senior Alejandra Cruz, the bout should prove to be another challenging matchup.
