Coping with March Madness
By Kerry Mitchell | March 18, 2014On Sunday, the Virginia Cavaliers and the hated Duke Blue Devils were locked in a battle for the ages, and I was reduced to a rabid, shaking wreck on the couch. And for what?
On Sunday, the Virginia Cavaliers and the hated Duke Blue Devils were locked in a battle for the ages, and I was reduced to a rabid, shaking wreck on the couch. And for what?
The first few weeks of the 2014 season have proved to be a difficult challenge for Virginia. The Cavaliers, faced with one of the nation’s toughest schedules, lost four games against top-10 ranked opponents, including multiple in which the opponent’s second half run sunk a chance for a Virginia victory.
The No. 10 Virginia men’s golf team played the first two events of its spring schedule last week. The Cavaliers first took second place at the Palmetto Intercollegiate in Aiken, S.C., before finishing fourth at the Schenkel Invitational Sunday in Statesboro, Ga.
Virginia softball dropped all three games of a weekend series against Syracuse. The Cavaliers were thoroughly routed by the Orange in each, losing 8-0, 13-1 and 14-3.
Junior sprinter Jordan Lavender was the lone member of the Virginia Indoor Track & Field team to compete in the NCAA Championships last weekend in Albuquerque, N.M.
The Virginia women’s golf team travelled to Hilton Head, S.C. and Gainesville, Fla. over spring break to compete in the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate and the SunTrust Gator Invitational. The Cavaliers finished 13th and sixth, respectively.
Finally back on the water after a long winter, the No. 5 Virginia women’s rowing team opened the spring season this weekend in Tennessee at the Oak Ridge Cardinal Invitational. The Cavaliers swept the 21 races they competed in across the two-day event, a great start for their bid to win the NCAA title for the third time in five years.
Back in Charlottesville, hours after the confetti was swept off the floor of the Greensboro Coliseum, it still doesn’t feel real. The Virginia Cavaliers, 2014 ACC Tournament champions.
The No. 7 Virginia men’s lacrosse team dropped its first two games of the season over the break, falling to No. 15 Cornell and No. 11 Notre Dame. The Cavaliers now sit at 6-2 overall and an even 1-1 in conference play.
The No. 12 Virginia wrestling team competed at the ACC Championships Saturday, March 8 in Blacksburg, Va.
Saturday night, the Virginia baseball team captured the back end of a nearly eight-hour doubleheader to complete a three-game sweep of Boston College at Davenport Field.
Looking to put together its first win streak of the season, the No. 6 Virginia women’s lacrosse team (3-5, 0-2 ACC) dropped a tough game to Princeton (2-3, 0-1 Ivy), 15-13. After Princeton jumped out to a 2-0 lead, the Cavaliers responded with a 3-0 run over a 2:01 span.
The No. 5 Virginia women’s tennis team kept busy during spring break, battling four ranked opponents in matches at home and on the road.
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Tony Bennett had been asked so frequently by the media about Wally Walker that it had become a running joke. The Virginia coach was well aware that it had been nearly 40 years — 38, to be exact — since Walker’s Cavaliers had won the ACC Tournament, and his team had the first opportunity to match the 1976 team’s feat in 20 years.
[View the story “Virginia wins first ACC tournament title since 1976 with your reactions” on Storify]
Dick Bennett, who rarely watches or attends Virginia games, promised his son Tony that he would watch the Cavaliers’ ACC Tournament opener against Florida State.
Up 51-48 with nine second left to play in their ACC semifinal game against Pittsburgh, the Virginia men’s basketball team’s lead was not looking particularly safe.
If the No. 6 Virginia men’s basketball team needed any additional motivation entering its ACC Tournament Quarterfinals matchup against Florida State, Seminole senior forward Okaro White generously provided the gasoline for its fire.
Joe Harris said going into the postseason that he wanted to be more aggressive on offense. If Friday’s debut game in the ACC Tournament was any indication, the senior guard meant it.
The Virginia baseball team rocked James Madison, 13-2, Tuesday afternoon in Charlottesville, Va. The No. 5 Cavaliers tormented the Dukes’ pitching staff with 16 hits and five walks in 47 plate appearances to finish with their second-highest run total of the season.