#GoACC Power Rankings: Week 17
By Zack Bartee | February 25, 2014March 1 is coming… If we’re really lucky, we might get to see another Jim Boeheim last second meltdown.
March 1 is coming… If we’re really lucky, we might get to see another Jim Boeheim last second meltdown.
The No. 12 Virginia Cavaliers will look to extend their winning streak to 12 games when they take on the Miami Hurricanes Wednesday night in Charlottesville. A win against Miami would mark coach Tony Bennett’s 100th career win with Virginia.
The Cavaliers (6-2), who lost for the first time since their season-opener against Kentucky, proved largely unable to solve sophomore long reliever Taylor Edens, who followed senior lefthander Campbell Henkel with five, two-hit innings out of the bullpen.
The No. 4 Virginia men’s lacrosse team continued its winning ways Tuesday, routing Mount St. Mary’s 14-6. After starting the season with three straight one-goal victories, the Cavaliers’ high-octane offense has come to life in their last two games, posting a combined 15-goal margin of the victory in those contests.
This past weekend, Virginia coach Augie Busch showed the conference that there was no drop-off from last season, former coach Mark Bernardino’s last.
This was banner season for 12th-ranked Virginia wrestling. The Cavaliers (18-3, 5-1 ACC) recorded the second-most wins in program history, made then-No. 8 Virginia Tech their highest-ranked victim ever while snapping an eight-match losing streak to the Hokies, and captured their first Virginia Duals banner.
In an exciting back-and-forth contest, NC State senior forward Kody Burke struck with 11 seconds remaining to dash the hopes of the upset-minded Cavaliers.
Last Sunday against East Carolina, No. 1 Virginia baseball’s batting order included the reigning ACC Player of the Week, last year’s conference batting champion, two players honored as Baseball America Preseason All-Americans and the 2013 ACC Freshman of the Year. Despite this, the player who gave the Pirates’ staff the most trouble in the Cavaliers’ 6-2 victory may well have been Matt Thaiss, the freshman designated hitter who ended the day 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles, two runs scored and an RBI.
The No. 13 Virginia women’s tennis team made school history Friday, upsetting No. 1 Duke 5-2 to earn the program’s first home victory against a top-ranked opponent. After handing the Blue Devils their first loss of the season, the Cavaliers traveled to No. 62 Boston College to face the Eagles Sunday. Virginia managed keep its ACC record perfect, defeating the Eagles 6-1 to improve to 7-2 on the season.
Virginia softball could not buck their losing ways at the Mary Nutter Classic. The Cavaliers (2-11) won only one of the weekend’s five games despite showing much more life at the plate.
The Virginia baseball team blasted a leadoff home run this weekend at Davenport Field, sweeping East Carolina in its first home series of the 2014 season. The No. 6 Cavaliers, playing before the largest home crowd for a February series in program history, extended their winning streak to six games.
After a seemingly slow start, the fifth-ranked Virginia men’s lacrosse team managed to buckle down and find the momentum to fuel a 19-12 victory against Rutgers Saturday night at Klöckner Stadium.
In an all-too-familiar situation, the Cavaliers (1-3, 0-1 ACC) fell just short to this ranked opponent as well, as Syracuse (4-0, 1-0 ACC) used its dynamic offensive attack to cruise to a 18-14 win.
Coach Augie Busch came into the season with one lofty goal — to build the Virginia swimming and diving teams into a nationally-recognized top-five program.
Notre Dame looked helpless as the Cavaliers poured on basket after basket, and Virginia cruised to a 70-49 win. Helped by 15 points from both senior forward Akil Mitchell and redshirt sophomore forward Anthony Gill, the Cavaliers picked up their school record 14th ACC win of the season.
The Cavaliers lost their hold on the game in the first nine minutes of the second half, and despite their best efforts at a late-game comeback, Virginia fell just short, 80-74.
“The Skinny” on weekend matchups for men’s basketball, men’s and women’s lacrosse and women’s tennis.
In 2006, “Il Pomodoro Volante” — known to us non-Italians as Shaun White — took the world by storm. Iconic red hair flying, White dominated the competition at the Turin Winter Olympics and took home his first gold medal. His celebrity and the hype surrounding him grew, and in 2010 he responded with a repeat performance. White was introduced to the public as a kid with long hair and immense talent. Now, some years later, he is an adult. The hair is gone, the talent remains and one new ingredient has been added: a legion of snowboarding frenemies.
The Virginia softball team heads westward for the Mary Nutter Classic in Cathedral City, Cal. The lineup for the Cavaliers includes BYU, Pacific, Oregon State, Fresno State, and No. 6 Oregon in their final tournament of the year.
No. 1 Virginia baseball faces off against East Carolina this weekend, seeking to win its home opener for the eighth season in a row. The team downed William & Mary 17-2 Wednesday afternoon, in a game originally scheduled for Charlottesville but moved to Williamsburg due to the recent snowfall affecting field conditions.