Clemson thrashes Virginia
Cavaliers commit 29 turnovers against ACC's ninth-place team
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Feb 26, 2006

CLEMSON, S.C. - In late November, the University of Virginia men's basketball team lost by 30 points at Arizona.

This was worse.

The low point of Dave Leitao's brief tenure as U.Va.'s coach came yesterday at Littlejohn Coliseum. Against Arizona, a perennial power, the Cavaliers at least led late in the first half. Against the ACC's ninth-place team, Clemson, which they had beaten five straight times, the Cavs trailed 32-7 after little more than nine minutes.

Clemson faltered briefly, allowing U.Va. to cut its deficit to 11 midway. But the Tigers recovered after intermission. The final was 90-64, and the margin easily could have been greater. Clemson was 17 for 35 from the line, yet scored 90 points, the most Virginia (7-7, 14-11) has allowed this season.

"It's unacceptable," sophomore guard Sean Singletary said of his team's play.

With 17 minutes left, reserve guard T.J. Bannister's first 3-pointer of the season pulled U.Va. to 49-40. But the Tigers (5-9, 6-11) answered with nine straight points, a run that began with a possession on which they got three shots, the last a Julius Powell follow. Virginia, which outrebounded Clemson 39-21 last month at University Hall, was beaten 34-32 on the boards yesterday. U.Va.'s Jason Cain, the ACC's fifth-leading rebounder, went to the bench with 9:08 left in the first half after committing his third turnover. Cain exchanged words with U.Va. assistant coach Steve Seymour, and Leitao didn't play the 6-10 junior again until the 9:55 mark of the second half.

Cain finished with two points and one rebound in a season-low nine minutes.

"I didn't see what they were talking about, but I wasn't happy with the way he was playing, so I didn't play him," Leitao said.

For the Cavaliers, the debacle came four days after their most impressive performance of the season, a 72-58 win over No. 11 Boston College at U-Hall In ACC play, U.Va. is 6-1 at home and 1-6 on the road.

"It's says we're very good at home and very bad on the road," said Leitao, who stayed in the locker room for nearly 40 minutes after the game.

Slow starts on the road are nothing new for Virginia, which trailed 20-2 at Duke, 14-2 at N.C. State and 18-5 at Florida State.

For the 8,000 fans at Littlejohn yesterday, there was little suspense. Given the Tigers' 1-3 record in overtime games, that was probably a good thing.

"This was the first time we just took care of a team from the start, held them off and just played through it," Clemson junior guard Vernon Hamilton said.

Hamilton, a Benedictine High graduate, had five steals to raise his season's total to 73, tying the school record. The quick, swarming Tigers applied relentless full-court pressure, and U.Va. succumbed to a tidal wave of turnovers, 29 in all.

Singletary led all scorers with 25 points and also had four assists and four steals. Junior guard J.R. Reynolds added 16 points, but no other Cavalier had more than six.

Against Arizona, Singletary turned over the ball nine times, a career high, and he matched that total yesterday.

"We put a lot of pressure on him to be everything, him and J.R.," Leitao said. "They've got to score 25-plus, they've got to not turn the ball over. They've got to play great D. They've got to lead the team. They've got to think, and [Singletary is] less than perfect, as we all are.

"I'll take his nine turnovers any day. That's more of him trying to force the issue because we're not playing well."

The Tigers rank last among ACC teams in 3-point shooting, but they made 9 of 20 attempts, led by senior guard Shawan Robinson (five treys).

Virginia's hopes of earning an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament probably evaporated yesterday, but Leitao brushed aside a question about his team's postseason fate.

"The NCAA is something that happens at the end of the year as a reward for playing your tail off," Leitao said. "We're in year one. We've got eight scholarship guys. We're just trying to make it."

 

Clemson runs over Cavaliers
Virginia is outscored 32-7 early on and offers very little support to starting guards J.R. Reynolds and Sean Singletary.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

CLEMSON, S.C. -- Virginia isn't merely a different team at home than it is on the road. The Cavaliers are a completely different species.

After a Tuesday display that ranked among their best of the season, the Cavaliers followed that up with their sloppiest exhibition of the year -- possibly many years -- in a 90-64 loss at Clemson.

UVa's 29 turnovers were its highest total in nearly 20 years, since the Cavaliers had 33 turnovers against Oklahoma in December 1987.

With its latest setback, Virginia (14-11 overall, 7-7 ACC) dropped to 1-6 in conference road games. The Cavaliers are 6-1 against ACC opposition at University Hall, including a 72-58 upset of 11th-ranked Boston College only four days earlier.

UVa coach Dave Leitao kept reporters waiting for close to 40 minutes after the game and, according to Clemson officials within earshot, there was fear that Leitao's harangue may have caused the paint to peel off the walls in UVa's locker room.

"Oh, it wasn't that rough," point guard Sean Singletary said.

Singletary led all scorers with 25 points, but he also had nine turnovers for the second time this season.

"We put a lot of pressure on him and J.R. [Reynolds] to be everything," Leitao said. "They've got to score 25- plus, they've got to not turn the ball over, they've got to play great 'D,' they've got to lead the team, they've got to think.

"And, [Singletary's] less than perfect, as we all are. I'll take his nine turnovers any day. That's more of him trying to force the issue because we're not playing well."

Virginia's pattern on the road has been to fall behind early and Saturday was no exception. The Cavaliers trailed 32-7 at one point and, for much of the first half, had more turnovers than points.

Virginia earlier had fallen behind 20-2 at Duke, 14-2 at N.C. State and 18-5 at Florida State last.

"I thought we learned our lesson the last time we were on the road," Reynolds said. "Florida State jumped on us early and the same thing happened today. It happens a lot."

UVa trimmed the deficit to 46-35 by halftime and got as close as 49-40 on a T.J. Bannister 3-pointer with 17:01 remaining, but the next two Clemson possessions spoke to a day-long lack of toughness on the Cavaliers' part.

First, Clemson got three shots at the basket before freshman Julius Powell tipped in Shawan Robinson's miss.

On the next trip down, Akin Akingbala slammed home a K.C. Rivers miss.

During a subsequent timeout, as junior center Jason Cain's teammates started returning to the floor, Cain took a seat next to Leitao on the Virginia bench.

Earlier, after a first-half substitution, Cain made a comment on his way off the floor that caused assistant Steve Seymour to rise from his seat and follow Cain to the bench.

Cain did not re-enter the game in the first half and did not start the second half, as he normally does. When Cain later moved closer to the coaches, an animated Leitao gave him an earful.

Cain eventually returned to the game with 9:55 left, only to give up an offensive rebound that sent him back to the bench with 8:59 left. He played a total of nine minutes, a season low, and declined comment after the game.

UVa got little contribution from anybody but Singletary and Reynolds, who finished with 16 points, his 19th consecutive game in double figures. UVa's other starters combined for seven points and eight turnovers.

"We need other people," Leitao said. "It's no secret. I don't know that anybody, including those two, had great games today."

Clemson (16-11, 5-9) shot 52.5 percent from the floor and made 9-of-20 3-pointers, including five by Robinson, a senior guard who finished with a game-high 22 points.

UVa had won the previous five games between the teams, and Reynolds had an even longer winning streak against Clemson guard Vernon Hamilton, a Virginia prep rival when Reynolds played at Roanoke Catholic and Hamilton at Benedictine in Richmond.

"By the time we won the state championship, he was gone," Hamilton said. "I don't remember if we ever beat them -- maybe at home once, but my memory is a little foggy.

"It felt good to pat him on the head and, for once, not be the one he was wishing 'good luck.' "

 

Wahoos drop the ball
UVa commits 29 turnovers in demoralizing loss
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
February 26, 2006

CLEMSON, S.C. - During a timeout in Saturday afternoon's Virginia-Clemson game, a group of 3- and 4-year-old girls ? dubbed the Junior Tigers Cheerleaders - came running onto the court.
Many of the kids looked wide-eyed, and unsure of what they were supposed to be doing. As a result, their performance - while pretty cute - was slipshod.

The same observations could be made about the Virginia basketball team - except for the cute part. There was nothing remotely attractive about the way the Cavaliers played in Clemson.

Virginia coach Dave Leitao would second that.

On a drizzly, gloomy day, the Cavaliers' showing inside Littlejohn Coliseum was equally dreary.

The Cavaliers committed a season-high 29 turnovers and suffered their second-worst loss of the season, 90-64.

"They got early steals and we turned the ball over," Leitao said, "and essentially the game was decided by that."

Virginia guard J.R. Reynolds said the loss negates all of the positives from the team's upset of Boston College on Tuesday night.

"To come on the road and get beat like this, you can throw [the Boston College] win out the window," said Reynolds, who scored 16 points. "We needed to take care of this game and we didn't."

Sean Singletary led Virginia with 25 points, six rebounds and four assists. However, he coughed up the rock nine times.

"There's no excuse for this," Singletary said. "We're just not as disciplined on the road as we are at home. We just got out there and didn't play well. We didn't perform well today. It's just a lack of maturity on the road. That's all it is."

Shawan Robinson had 22 for Clemson (16-11, 5-9), which had four other players in double figures.

Virginia (14-11, 7-7), which never led in the game, looked like a punch-drunk boxer from the get-go.

The Cavaliers were overwhelmed by Clemson's defensive pressure - something Leitao said there was no way to simulate in practice.

"No disrespect, but our second group - with the four walk-ons - couldn't duplicate the athleticism, and speed and quickness which they pressured us with," Leitao said.

Before Virginia could break a sweat, it was trailing 18-3. The Cavaliers committed five turnovers within the first six minutes.

Meanwhile, Virginia's defense - which had looked great against Boston College - allowed pretty much anything.

"You would have thought we got the message after the Florida State game on the road, but we didn't," said Reynolds, alluding to the team's 76-62 loss last weekend. "We stopped paying attention to detail."

Clemson had three dunks during the stretch, two by Akin Akingbala (14 points). The third came in highlight-reel fashion off a steal by Robinson. He pushed ahead to Sam Perry, who found Julius Powell for the flush.

"Our full-court pressure defense in the first half yielded a lot of dividends for us," said Clemson coach Oliver Purnell. "We got a bunch of layups."

Finally, two free throws by Singletary broke a four-plus-minute scoring drought. However, Clemson responded with an 11-0 burst to take a 29-5 lead.

Robinson was unconscious from 3-point range. He drained three during a 2:16 span, the last of which put Clemson up 32-7.

With some better defense - coupled with poor Tigers' free-throw shooting - Virginia was able to whittle the lead to 11 at the half.

But the opening of the second half was a carbon copy of the first. Lots of Virginia turnovers. Lots of easy buckets for Clemson.

"The fact that we were able to get a good working margin in the first half ? it's hard for a team to come back," Purnell said. "It's a long way back."

For the game, Clemson shot 52.5 percent from the field, including 45 percent from 3-point range. Virginia shot 43.8 percent.

Clemson, which Virginia had beaten earlier this season, had been reeling.

The Tigers came into the contest having dropped six of their last seven.

"We've lost a lot of close games," Akingbala said. "We just played the same way we do every game. We knew the only way to beat Virginia was to play hard for 40 minutes."

With about 12 minutes remaining, Leitao's frustrations boiled over. With his team trailing by 17 ? and after a Singletary turnover - Leitao kicked the front of the scorer's table and was hit with a technical foul.

Leitao didn't arrive at his press conference until about 35 minutes after the game.

A few minutes into the session, a Clemson reporter asked him about his team's prospects for the NCAA Tournament.

"That's a bad question," said a perturbed Leitao. "I'm not even thinking [about that] right now. The NCAA is something that happens at the end of the year, and is a reward for playing your tail off.

"We're Year 1 and have eight scholarship guys."

When the reporter persisted, Leitao responded:

"If you don't believe me, you don't know me. ? Our focus is to practice and play well every day. ? That's not something that's on my mind."

DUNKS: Virginia's most lopsided loss of the season was at Arizona on Nov. 27. The Cavaliers lost 81-51. ? Jason Cain, who started the game, did not start the second half. Leitao didn't specify his reasons, but said "I wasn't happy with the way he was playing, so I didn't play him." Cain finished with two points, one rebound and three turnovers in just nine minutes. ? With less than six minutes left in the game, Tunji Soroye took a nasty spill when he was fouled as he tried to dunk. The thud could be heard throughout the arena. After the game, Leitao said he thought Soroye, who walked off the court under his own power, was OK. ? Virginia plays at North Carolina at 9 p.m. Wednesday.
 

These Cavs better grow up quickly
Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
February 26, 2006

CLEMSON, S.C.
In a more perfect world, Virginia's young basketball team would have built off its upset of 11th-ranked Boston College on Tuesday, followed it with a road win at Clemson and dribbled its way onto the NCAA bubble.

Instead, reality slapped the Cavaliers so hard on Saturday that it left an indelible mark in a 90-64 loss at Clemson. Talk about a perfect opportunity to take a giant step forward. But you don't get a mulligan in basketball.

The Wahoos were presented a chance to end some of their futility on the ACC road, where they are now 1-6 this season. They couldn't have picked a better place to try to snap out of this road funk. Littlejohn Coliseum has been the least-threatening venue for Virginia in the entire ACC, a joint where past Cavalier teams have won almost half the time (16 of 36).

It was the same Clemson team that UVa handled in Charlottesville, in fact manhandled on the boards back in early January.

Lessons not learned

All the things that coach Dave Leitao had emphasized with his players for the past several days, focus, boxing out, playing hard defense, protecting the basketball, all went out the window in the first nine minutes of this one as the host Tigers stormed to an early 32-7 lead and never looked back.

This led to a foot-stomping, scorer's table-kicking, technical foul-drawing, unhappy Leitao, who was so disturbed by his team's performance that he didn't show up for the post-game interview until

35 minutes after the game was over. Well, make that after the game ended, because this one was over almost as soon as it started.

Leitao showed up so late that his comments didn't even make the Virginia radio network post-game show. The network had already signed off by the time the Virginia coach made his way to the pressroom.

A Swiss cheese defense

When he did arrive, he wasn't in the mood for a lot of chitchat and understandably so. His team had just surrendered 90 points to the worst offensive team in the ACC.

Heck, even the nation's No. 1-ranked team, Duke, only got 82 against the Wahoos.

You have to go back to last season to find that kind of defensive ineptitude by Virginia, when five teams scored 90 or more. But that group of Cavs was the worst team in the league in field goal percentage defense and the next-to-worst ACC team in scoring defense.

This team was supposed to be above all that. This Virginia team is statistically rated the ACC's best defense against scoring.

Instead, the Cavs were lit up by a Clemson team that had broken 75 only three times in conference play this season.

It's almost like this is a completely different Virginia team once it departs University Hall, where the team is an opposite 6-1 in ACC home games.

"This is frustrating because we've struggled on the road," Leitao said. "Going on the road exposes a lot of things."

Saturday, it exposed everything.

From the early moments, Leitao knew his team was in trouble. Again, the "A" game had been left unpacked back home and what Virginia brought to Littlejohn wasn't very pretty.

The Cavaliers turned it over a season-high 29 times, nine in fact by point guard Sean Singletary, mostly because he was pressing to try and make something happen. Leitao was more disturbed by the fact that his players didn't box out, didn't play defense and allowed dribble penetration throughout the afternoon.

That allowed an aggressive Clemson team to cut Virginia to ribbons.

"We knew coming in that Virginia was a tough team ... that's their identity," said Tiger forward Sam Perry. "But they were coming to our house and we weren't going to let anybody punk us in our house. We weren't going to let them out-tough us here."

No worry. The Wahoos brought little fight to the party. Clemson shot 52.5 percent from the field, 45 percent from the 3-point arc (9 of 20), won the rebounding and turnover war and recorded 14 steals.

Even when Virginia did cut it to nine early in the second half, the Cavs couldn't sustain it. The Tigers still could have been had if UVa had made a solid run, particularly considering that the hosts missed almost half their free throws (17 of 35).

Whatever it took to win on the road, the Cavs just didn't have it. Leitao had mentioned on Thursday that if someone other than UVa's guards would just give him the same kind of effort as they do at home, maybe, just maybe, they could get that elusive second road win.

Instead, Singletary and backcourt mate J.R. Reynolds combined for 41 of the 64 points. The other three starters had a collective seven points, including a mere two by Jason Cain, who spent all but nine minutes of the bench after a lackluster beginning. Center Tunji Soroye had a big goose egg.

While everyone about him buzzed about NCAA chances, Leitao wisely knew his team's limitations.

"We're in Year 1," the coach reminded anyone who hung around the 35 minutes to listen. "We have eight scholarship players. We're in the infantile stages of developing our team mentally, which is a lot tougher than trying to build a team physically."

From October on, Leitao has openly talked about the hardest thing to teach is mental toughness, and Saturday, on the verge of March Madness, his Cavaliers still haven't traveled that far in that phase of the game.

Until they get it, there will be more days like this one with more scorers' tables that get in the way of Leitao's frustration, more disappointing road performances.

"It's a lack of discipline, a lack of maturity," Singletary said afterward, sitting quietly by his locker. "These things are unacceptable. Now, we've got to turn the page."

The only problem is that once you flip to the next page, it's not a pleasant pop-up book, but rather North Carolina looming at the Dean Dome, followed by Maryland coming to town, then the ACC Tournament.

With that in mind, these Cavaliers need to grow up in a hurry.

Otherworldly: Clemson throttles hapless Virginia

In season’s best performance, Tigers avenge earlier loss to Cavaliers

By PATRICK OBLEYStaff Writer

CLEMSON — One almost expected good Dr. Hill from “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” to run on the court Saturday yelling, “Get on your radios and sound an all points alarm. Block all highways, stop all traffic, and call every law enforcement agency in the state!”
Just who were those guys wearing the Clemson jerseys at Littlejohn Coliseum? Did anyone check the locker room for people-sized seed pods?
The Tigers played their best game of the year Saturday, easily handling a previously dominant Virginia team 90-64, sending Cavaliers coach Dave Leitao into a 30-minute postgame tirade that peeled paint off the visiting locker room walls.
Five Tigers reached double figures, including the unlikely duo of Sam Perry (12 points) and Steve Allen (11).
“They were coming into our house and we like to use the quote, ‘We’re not going to let anybody punk us.’” Perry said. “That’s what we like to say. ‘We’re not going to let anybody punk us.’”
In the Tigers’ 64-58 loss at Virginia last month, they were outrebounded by 18. On Saturday, Clemson coach Oliver Purnell called on his team to “play tougher.”
Purnell also decided it was time Clemson reverted back to its preseason mentality and play the type of fullcourt pressure that led Clemson to 11 consecutive wins to open the season, no James Mays or not.
Four minutes into the game, Clemson led 14-3. Six minutes and several Virginia timeouts later, Clemson led 32-7. At one point, Virginia had more turnovers (13) than shots attempted (nine).
The rout was on, but Clemson had been in a position like this before in several of their nine Atlantic Coast Conference defeats. Too often, with their foot on the opposition’s throat, the Tigers have been too kind.
It certainly appeared that was happening again when the Cavaliers launched a run that cut Clemson’s lead to 49-40 three minutes into the second half.
With the crowd growing restless and visions of previous collapses dancing in their heads, the Tigers bore down in a manner they had not done before.
Back came the pressure, back came the turnovers and back came the deadly accurate shooting. Less than six minutes later, the lead was back to 21 points, 66-45.
“It exemplifies toughness,” Purnell said of the Tigers’ run. “They make a run at you and you make a toughness play or two to hold them off.”
The fight out of them, Virginia could not get closer than 17 points.
Shawan Robinson had 22 points as the Tigers improved to 5-9 in the ACC. Akin Akingbala had 14 while Julius Powell had 10 to join Perry and Allen in double figures. Clemson forced 29 turnovers, its best ACC performance under Purnell. The Tigers also outrebounded Virginia, 34-32, including a 14-7 advantage on the offensive glass.
“It was the first time we really got on a team, stayed on a team and then just took care of them, finished them,” Clemson guard Vernon Hamilton said.
Virginia, coming off a 20-point rout against 13th-ranked Boston College, was paced by Sean Singletary’s game-high 25 points. The Cavs fell to 14-11 overall and 7-7 in league play.
Clemson has two games remaining in ACC play, but at 16-11 overall, the Tigers have clinched a winning record. That includes any potential losses in the ACC tournament or — dare it be said — any other postseason tournament.
Maybe good Doc Hill was talking about the Tigers after all.
“Invasion of the Body Snatchers?” asked Robinson with a grin, “Never heard of it. Never seen it.”
 

Thompson pitches Cavs to another win
Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
February 26, 2006

CHARLESTON, S.C.: Jacob Thompson struck out eight batters in eight innings of work to help spark Virginia to a 6-2 win over Gardner-Webb in the Charleston Challenge.
Thompson (3-0) gave up eight hits but only two of any consequence - Gardner-Webb's Blake Lalli hit two solo home runs - and the rookie from Danvillle remained perfect on the season.

It was the longest outing of Thompson's young career - he threw 105 pitches.

"He buckled down when he needed to," said UVa coach Brian O'Connor, "and Jacob Thompson is really showing a lot of poise in the early part of his career. It is important for guys to learn to pitch deep into games."

Virginia improved to 8-1 on the season, while Gardner-Webb dropped to 6-2.

Center fielder Mike Mitchell led Virginia's offensive attack with three hits, two runs and two stolen bases.

The game remained tied at 1-1 until Virginia punched across three runs in the fifth. The Cavaliers used their trademark style of "small ball," using two bunt singles, three stolen bases and a pair of sacrifice flies to account for the runs.

"Our offensive execution was really good, and I think that was the story of the game," O'Connor said.

In the bottom of the eighth, with UVa clinging to a 4-2 lead, catcher Beau Seabury delivered a two-out, two-run double for some insurance.

"That was a big hit for our ballclub to open the gap, but most importantly it was a big hit for Beau Seabury to come up in the clutch like that," O'Connor said. "Beau has not been swinging the bat up to his capability, but hopefully that gives him some confidence."

Casey Lambert pitched a perfect ninth inning, the second for the southpaw in as many days, sealing the win for UVa.

The Cavaliers will play the final game of the six-team event today against College of Charleston at 2 p.m.
 

UVa Roundup
UVa wins 8th straight crown
From staff reports / Charlottesville Daily Progress
February 26, 2006

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The longest ACC team winning streak in the history of all University of Virginia sports reached a new pinnacle Saturday night.
For the eighth consecutive year, the Cavaliers are the kings of the ACC Men's Swimming and Diving Championship. Coach Mark Bernardino's team used its depth in several events to overtake favored Florida State, which led on Thursday and Friday.

Virginia totaled 694 points during the four-day meet at Maryland's Campus Recreation Center Natatorium. Florida State, which has never won the ACC title, finished second with 685.5 points.

North Carolina placed third with 496.5. Georgia Tech (371 points) followed in fourth. North Carolina State (362), Virginia Tech (334.5), Clemson (293), Maryland (222.5), Duke (99), Boston College (70) and Miami (37) also competed.

UVa's John Millen and Vanja Rogulj, with his second individual victory of the meet, both won events Saturday.

Florida State and Virginia traded the lead with the Cavaliers closing to within one point of the Seminoles after the first event, the 1,650-yard freestyle. Millen won in NCAA automatic qualifying time of 15:03.09. Cavalier senior Fran Crippen swam to fourth place.

Virginia beat FSU in the 200 backstroke with three of the top five finishers. Pat Mellors took second. Bjorn Falk finished fourth and Bryan Stahl was fifth.

The Seminoles regained the lead in the 100 freestyle, finishing 2-3-4. N.C. State's Cullen Jones won the event for the second time in his career with a time of 43.35 seconds.

Jones, who won the 50 freestyle on Thursday and scored a medal in four relays, earned the 2006 Most Valuable Swimmer award.

Virginia surged in the 200 breaststroke, producing a 1-2-3 finish. Rogulj won with an NCAA "A" time of 1:55.07, and was fol-lowed by P.J. Sullivan and Ryan Hurley.

Gus Calado of Virginia Tech, a junior from Brazil, won his first ACC event in the 200 butterfly (1:44.64). Virginia's Stefan Hirniak came in second.

With the team trophy still up in the air entering the final event, the suspense peaked with the 400 freestyle relay. With the title still mathematically in reach, Florida State won the race, but Virginia's eighth-place finish was good enough to clinch the program's eighth straight ACC crown.

Greg Imboden, Ethan McCoy, Ryan Berg and Mellors combined for the meet-clinching points.

Miami's Derek Starks was named the 2006 Diver of the Meet after earning one gold and one silver medal.

The 8.5-point differential between first and second place marked the closest ACC meet finish since Virginia topped FSU by 6.5 points in 1999. The Seminoles have finished second to the Cavaliers in each of the last four seasons, and five times overall.

VIRGINIA SOFTBALL WINS TWICE: In Chattanooga, Brooke Sorber slugged a game-winning home run and pitcher Karla Wilburn tossed a shutout as the Cavaliers won twice Saturday in the Panera Bread Challenge at Frost Stadium.

Sorber, a junior first baseman, blasted her first college homer with two outs in the seventh inning for the game-winning run to beat Alabama-Birmingham 4-3.

Wilburn, a sophomore, dominated on the mound to defeat host Chattanooga 2-0.

The Cavaliers improved to 4-2 and play two more games today in southeastern Tennessee.

Lara Rodriques smacked a two-run pinch hit against UAB.

In the second game, senior center fielder Jessica Taylor led off for UVa with a home run. Wilburn notched her first collegiate shutout on a three-hitter. She struck out five and walked one.

Taylor also scored the second run against Chattanooga. She walked in the third and raced home on a double by senior second baseman Sara Larquier. With the double, Larquier tied the Virginia career records for RBIs (158) and extra-base hits (94).

VCU WOMEN BEAT UVA IN TENNIS: Undefeated Virginia Commonwealth dominated the Cavaliers 6-1 Saturday at the Boar's Head Sports Club.

No. 25 VCU boosted its record to 13-0, and dropped Virginia to 6-2.

Lindsey Pereira was the lone UVa winner in singles, taking a 6-2, 7-5 victory at No. 5.

First-year coach Mark Guilbeau hopes to see the Cavaliers rebound today with a 2 p.m. home match against William & Mary. Admission is free at the Boar's Head Sports Club.

CAVALIER MEN ARE SIXTH IN ACC TRACK: in Blacksburg, after 34 total events and 10 championship meet records, the Miami women and Florida State men won the 2006 ACC Indoor Track & Field Championships Saturday afternoon.

Virginia's men finished in sixth place and the UVa women were ninth.

The Miami women claimed their second straight league title with 117 points. North Carolina finished with 96 points. Florida State (81) was third among 12 teams, and host Virginia Tech (70) came in fourth. Virginia totaled 39.5 points.

On the men's side, Florida State earned its fourth consecutive indoor title for head coach Bob Braman. The Seminoles tallied 160.5 points to beat Clemson (95). North Carolina (64) took third. Virginia Tech was fourth (60) and Wake Forest fifth (56). Virginia scored 55 points.

UVa's Alex Tatu (4:09.00), Kevin McHale (4:09.69) and Andrew Jesien (4:09.94) placed second, third and fourth, respectively, in the men's mile.

Kellen Blassingame ran to second place in the men's 400-meter dash for the Cavaliers with a time of 46.73 seconds.