Whether at JPJ, the AFC, Scott Stadium or Palmer Park, Virginia’s home slate for the spring gives Cavalier fans plenty to look forward to.
Through historic upsets, clinched titles and national headlines, the Cavaliers delivered one of the most thrilling years to be a Virginia fan yet.
Many pundits and fans feared that having a depth chart filled with players spending only one year at an institution would derail the community's ties to the team.
Facing one of the nation’s best lineups — which fielded five ranked singles players and two ranked doubles pairings — the Cavaliers battled through an exciting doubles phase and several long singles matches.
"[A] solid opening meet with impressive performances from the throwers, jumpers and hurdlers,” Coach Vin Linanna said. “We will have a big group at Virginia Tech next weekend."
Virginia wasted little time proving the program’s dominance, opening the season with back-to-back victories over higher-ranked opponents.
"This was a team performance that showed that this year's team acquiring their highest CSA national ranking ever is no fluke,” assistant coach Mark Broekman said, “... A brilliant team performance by all."
Despite entering as the ranked team, the Virginia men once again fell to a lower-ranked Hokies squad for a second straight year.
“My time in college has played a huge role in my growth, both as a player and as a person, and I now feel prepared to take this next step and embrace a new challenge in my life,” Jódar wrote.
“Every win on the road is like gold,” Odom said. “This particular group understands that. If you want to compete at the highest level of the ACC and compete for a championship, you have to win games on the road. The eventual champion will do that.”
“Not only were we getting out [strategized] by them, but we were getting beat on technique that we should know better,” Garland said. “So I got to figure out how I get our knowledge as coaches into their brains and have them actually do it.”
Considering the program received a transformational multi-million dollar donation last year, expectations should no longer be about improving on the margin. In the 2025-26 season, Virginia must be an NCAA Tournament team.
Historically, the NCAA has taken a hardline stance — student-athletes and staff are strictly prohibited from betting on any sport, at any level. Yet as gambling becomes ubiquitous, enforcing that blanket ban has grown increasingly difficult.
Virginia, now 8-4 overall and 0-1 in the ACC, has faced more consecutive road matches than any other winter sports team, a grueling reality caused by the Memorial Gymnasium renovations.
The Cavaliers will need to find ways to turn their narrow losses into wins as they enter arguably the most important stretch of the season. Their next five duals will all be conference matches, with three taking place at home.
The 65-58 loss marked Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton's sixth straight loss against Duke in her time at Virginia, which serves as a brutal reminder of Agugua-Hamilton’s continued struggles against ACC elites.
Virginia lost only one set in their three season-opening matches.
“He's got a lot of things going for him,” Gelnovatch said this season.
Virginia and Duke headline the top of a ‘middle of the pack’ section. The Blue Devils are in second place while the Cavaliers are in third, but both teams have had wildly different results to date.
The good news is that Grünloh came to Charlottesville with experience playing against bigger, more experienced frontcourts — now, he is in a role in which he can excel by doing the little, simple things right.
