U.VA. NOTES
By Staff Reports
Published: February 6, 2009

New role for Landesberg?
He has more turnovers (49) than assists (44), but don't be surprised to see Sylven Landesberg running Virginia's offense more as the season goes on.

That's always been an option, but Cavaliers coach Dave Leitao, trying not to burden Landesberg with too much responsibility early in his career, has used the 6-6 freshman mainly on the wing.

In the second half of U.Va.'s 80-70 loss to Boston College on Wednesday night, Landesberg was often at point guard. He had two assists and no turnovers after intermission as the Wahoos fought back from a 20-point deficit. He finished with a career-high 32 points.

"I've got to look at him a little bit more as a primary ballhandler because he doesn't really turn it over, and he tries more than anybody else on the team to go north and south," Leitao said.

Landesberg said: "Whatever Coach wants me to do, I'll be happy to do it. It's not a burden of any kind for me."

Landesberg has made 26 consecutive free throws, a U.Va. freshman record.

New role for Sene?
After starting the previous eight games, freshman Assane Sene came off the bench against BC. The 7-footer from Senegal ended up playing 28 minutes and contributed five points, two blocked shots and a career-high 13 rebounds. Sene even made a free throw, after 14 consecutive misses.

"I thought he played better today," Leitao said. "Whether it was because he came off the bench or not, I don't know, I have to look a little closer. But of all the frontcourt guys, he showed the most energy. I think part of the problem with him starting, as much as anything, has been early foul trouble. We gotta weigh one vs. the other and see what's best."

The final piece
Coach Al Groh is expected to announce soon that he's completed his staff by hiring Chad Wilt to oversee the defensive line.

A former graduate assistant at U.Va., Wilt has been on Danny Rocco's staff at Liberty for the past three seasons. They first worked together at Virginia, where Rocco was Groh's top assistant before leaving for Liberty.

Like the Cavaliers, the Flames run the 3-4 as their base defense. Wilt, who has a master's degree from U.Va., coaches Liberty's defensive line and special teams.

Big numbers
The football recruits who signed Wednesday with U.Va. include Jake Snyder, a defensive end from Deep Run High whose brother Matt is a walk-on receiver in Groh's program.

Jake Snyder, a first-team All-Metro pick, made 95 tackles, including 24 sacks, as a senior. At tight end, he caught 14 passes for 231 yards and three touchdowns.

"To some guys, this game just makes sense," Groh said. "They get it figured out. They figure out plays in a hurry, they figure out schemes. And when a player has a lot of production, you can see that. Where you get concerned, and it causes some question, is when a player's got some numbers -- he's got size, he's got athletic ability -- and you watch him play [and he doesn't produce]."

Jake is a lot like his big brother, said Groh, who called Matt "as dependable, hard-working and tough-minded a player as we have in the program."

Elsewhere
The men's lacrosse team will scrimmage twice tomorrow. U.Va. will play two quarters against Bucknell, starting at 1 p.m., and three against Georgetown, starting at 2 p.m. Bucknell and Georgetown will scrimmage after that. The teams will meet on U.Va.'s lacrosse practice field, which is below the McCue Center. Fans are advised to bring folding chairs to the scrimmages, which are free and open to the public. The Cavaliers' first scrimmage, against Navy, was last weekend at Annapolis, Md. The teams tied 8-8. Three of Virginia's top offensive players -- attackmen Danny Glading and Garrett Billings and midfielder Shamel Bratton -- missed the game with minor injuries.
The baseball team will hold two practices this weekend that are open to the public. The Cavaliers will scrimmage at 3:30 p.m. today and 1:30 p.m. tomorrow at Davenport Field. Parking is available at the baseball stadium lot next to Davenport Field. Virginia starts the 2009 season Feb. 20 against Bucknell at Davenport Field. -- Jeff White
 

Cavaliers target Liberty aide/Doug Doughty

The Virginia-to-Liberty pipeline might soon go both ways.

Chad Wilt, a 30-year-old assistant football coach at Liberty, could be headed back to Charlottesville as Virginia's new defensive line coach.

Wilt previously served as a graduate assistant at Virginia during the 2004 and 2005 seasons, then followed Cavalier colleague Danny Rocco to Lynchburg.

Wilt has coached the Flames' defensive line and has served as special-teams coordinator. He played at Taylor University in Upland, Ind., where his father, Steve, was the head coach.

Levern Belin, who has coached the UVa defensive line for the past two seasons, could wind up at Liberty as Wilt's replacement.

Negotiations could be completed by the start of next week, sources said.

 

February in the ACC has fooled us before, and will do so again
Bob Molinaro
Virginian-Pilot columnist
Read Articles
The Virginian-Pilot
© February 6, 2009

A pair of 27-point losses by Duke and Wake Forest served as further proof that taking the temperature of ACC basketball is a fool's errand.

Just when you thought you had the season sort of figured out, a couple of so-called elite teams fell - hard - Wednesday night.

Not that losing on the road to lower-rated conference opponents necessarily constitutes traumatic disappointment. Despite the shrill pronouncements of some in the media, many so-called upsets aren't upsets at all.

Still, when a couple of teams that recently played hot potato with the No. 1 ranking lose by almost four touchdowns, it gets your attention.

Now that the Super Bowl has packed up, college basketball moves closer to center stage. But a brighter spotlight doesn't guarantee clarity.

We probably shouldn't make too much of Duke's puny performance at Clemson or Wake Forest's meltdown at Miami. But the results do sort of confirm what I've been thinking:

That Duke is too small in the paint and too slow on the perimeter to dance its way into the Final Four.

That Wake's young players can't handle the weight of expectation.

That's what it looks like from here.

February results can't be trusted, though. February - the dog days of hoops - is when erratic teams often enjoy momentary resurgence while more talented units grow a little bored and fall off track before making the necessary adjustments by tournament time.

Take if from somebody who's been wrong too many times: February can fool you.

Eventually, a degree of normalcy will return to the ACC, with North Carolina reasserting itself as the best of the bunch, if it hasn't already. But with more potential for surprises still ahead, there shouldn't be a rush to embrace normalcy.

Of more passing interest is seeing if Clemson, with its toughest games behind, can move past Duke and stay there.

The Blue Devils still have two games against the Tar Heels, while Oliver Purnell's Tigers already have absorbed their ritual beating in Chapel Hill. Clemson doesn't have to face North Carolina or Duke again and has survived a tricky test against Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.

Not to mention, two of Clemson's remaining games are against Virginia.

Talk about a gift-wrapped schedule. A U.Va. team featuring Sylven Landesberg - the ACC's runaway favorite for Rookie of the Year because of performances like his 32-point game in Wednesday's loss to Boston College - should be better than 7-11 and 1-6 in the ACC.

At U.Va., an upset is when the Cavaliers aren't trailing by 20 at halftime.

Clearly, Landesberg isn't getting any help - from teammates or from Dave Leitao, for that matter. They've got to do better in Charlottesville.

Just look at what BC has been up to in spite of a preseason media poll that picked the Eagles 11th in a 12-team league. (U.Va. was last.)

After victories over North Carolina and Duke, Wake Forest received a papal blessing from Dick Vitale. Now little-regarded BC has leapfrogged Wake, which has gone from

No. 1 in the nation three weeks ago to tied for fifth in the ACC right now.

At midseason, BC's Al Skinner is ACC Coach of the Year.

That said, don't be surprised if BC skids out of sight again. It followed its shocking victory at North Carolina the first week of January with four consecutive losses. Now on a five-game winning streak, the Eagles are hard to figure.

Not so U.Va., which after losing six in a row is all but guaranteed a long afternoon at Chapel Hill on Saturday.

Before I could take the Cavaliers' temperature, I'd have to thaw out the corpse.

 

U.Va. Cavs counting on Penn Charter star tackling new job
Posted to: College Football Sports Virginia
Defensive end Justin Renfrow signed a national letter of intent to play football.

THREE OTHERS TO WATCH

1. Tim Smith, WR, Oscar Smith: The Cavaliers, 105th in the nation in total offense last year, need playmakers for their new spread attack. With 4.5 speed in the 40 and 29 TDs for the Tigers in 2008, Smith fits the mold.

2. Dominique Wallace, RB, Fredericksburg: A SuperPrep All-American who was listed as the top fullback in the nation by rivals.com. At 225 pounds, could be a bruising tailback for the Cavaliers.

3. Quintin Hunter, QB/WR, Orange: Dynamic athlete who was originally recruited to play WR. In the spread, he could play QB. Rated as the nation’s No.22 athlete by rivals.com

By Ed Miller
The Virginian-Pilot
© February 5, 2009
The world's oldest Quaker school has been good to the University of Virginia athletic department.

First, William Penn Charter School, in Philadelphia, sent Sean Singletary, who will have his No. 44 retired Feb. 15 at halftime of a Cavaliers basketball game against Clemson.

Then came Sammy Zeglinski, Virginia's current starting point guard.

Wednesday, another Penn Charter product officially became a Cavalier when Justin Renfrow, a standout defensive end, signed a national letter of intent to play football. Renfrow played two ways at Penn Charter, but it's a third skill that coach Al Groh often looks for in his offensive and defensive line prospects that made him particularly attractive:

A jump shot.

Before he became highly sought as a defensive lineman, Renfrow was a budding basketball prospect.

"He was really a basketball guy until probably the end of his sophomore year," Penn Charter football coach Jeff Humble said. "Junior year, he really started growing into his body."

And quite a football body it became. A long-armed 6-foot-5, Renfrow weighs in these days at close to 270 pounds, making him an ideal candidate to play defensive end in Virginia's 3-4 scheme. Ends in the 3-4 are responsible for filling two gaps and are usually bigger than the pure speed rushers many college teams use in the 4-3 alignment.

Groh and his staff look for linemen who played other sports in high school, seeing it as an obvious sign of athleticism. Offensive tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson, a former U.Va. great, threw the shot and practiced karate. Guard Branden Albert received some basketball scholarship offers. Both became NFL first-round picks.

The Cavaliers first became aware of Renfrow when he came to Virginia for a basketball camp.

"I stopped by the football offices and talked to coach (Bob) Price," Renfrow said.

That was after Renfrow's sophomore year. He'd already been to Virginia for other basketball camps. Indeed, the Penn Charter-Virginia hoops link was well-established by then. Zeglinski signed in 2007. And Renfrow grew up watching Singletary, who played for the Cavaliers from 2004 until last season.

Renfrow played with Zeglinski for two years. Singletary had just graduated when Renfrow came to Penn Charter as an eighth-grader in 2004, but Singletary's father and Renfrow's family go to the same church. One of Singletary's cousins even trains Renfrow for football, he said.

Singletary remains a presence at the school, but it's not all about basketball at Penn Charter. Matt Ryan, the No. 3 pick in the 2008 NFL draft, is a 2003 graduate.

Renfrow gave up basketball this year to concentrate on football. Humble called him a mid-major basketball prospect.

His upside in football: far higher.

 

U.Va.'s personality problem
Virginia point guard Calvin Baker believes the Cavaliers' unraveling is rooted in personalities.

"Our biggest problem is we don't play with emotion," Baker said last night after the team's sixth consecutive defeat, 80-70 to visiting Boston College.

And why don't the Cavaliers play with emotion? Why wouldn't a group of young men be chomping at the bit to play ACC basketball?

Baker said the roster is filled with "introverts" who don't seem to grasp how coach Dave Leitao wants them to play. Leitao's philosophy is steeped in defense, rebounding and toughness, skills best displayed not with inner cool but outward enthusiasm.

"It's personalities," Baker said.

After juggling 11 players during a brutal first half -- Virginia trailed 42-22 at intermission -- Leitao used five for virtually the entire second half. And what an odd five it was.

Baker, Sylven Landesberg and Jeff Jones on the perimeter; Assane Sene and the seldom-used Solomon Tat (31 minutes total before last night, 22 against BC) inside. The lineup is limited offensively but active defensively.

The Cavaliers' 3-2 zone harassed the Eagles into 10 turnovers and 36-percent shooting in the second half, allowing Virginia the false hope of narrowing the margin to seven points in the final minute.

During the second half, Sene grabbed 10 of his game-high 13 rebounds, Landesberg scored 26 of his season-high 32 points, and Baker passed for all four of his team-high assists.

Most telling, according to Baker, the five on the floor are clearly the Cavaliers' most emotional players.

Virginia (7-11, 1-6) plays at North Carolina on Saturday, and Leitao said he is considering lineup changes. That could mean demotions for starters Mike Scott, Mamadi Diane and Jamil Tucker, none of whom played after halftime against Boston College.

“I really wasn’t interested in playing anybody who wasn’t going to play the game the right way,” Leitao said.

Ouch.

Can't imagine even the most die-hard Cavaliers faithful expecting anything but a beatdown Saturday afternoon at the Dean Dome.

Posted by David Teel
 

Tat brings dose of passion
By Whitey Reid
Published: February 6, 2009

If Virginia coach Dave Leitao was posting a want ad on the web site craigslist, the ad would probably read something like this: “Fourth-year coach at struggling ACC program looking for passionate players. Basketball skills a plus.”
In his team’s sixth-straight loss on Wednesday night at John Paul Jones Arena, passion was certainly at an all-time low — so much so that Leitao resorted to the extreme measure of essentially playing the same five players for nearly the entire second half.
“I wasn’t really interested in playing anybody who wasn’t going to play the game the right way,” said Leitao, following the team’s 80-70 loss to Boston College.
To that end, one of “the chosen ones” was Solomon Tat. The junior had played in just seven games until Wednesday, but that didn’t stop Leitao from using the Nigerian for a season-high 22 minutes — the most playing time Tat had received since his freshman year.
“Solomon’s energy is helpful,” said Leitao, when asked about his decision to dust off Tat. “He missed some point-blank stuff and is not a great scorer, obviously, but I think you have to start with passion and energy, and playing hard and all that, and you have to put pieces together from there.”
Tat, whom Leitao once referred to as the team’s “spiritual leader,” finished with two points and two rebounds. But Tat’s calling card is doing a lot of the things that don’t show up in a box score.
“At any point in practice or during the games that I can help the team — it’s always exciting to me,” said the 6-foot-5 Tat, whom Leitao used at power forward.
Tat said the hardest part about not having the chance to play on a regular basis is maintaining a shooting rhythm.
“I’m a little bit conscious about it because playing a game and practice are totally two different things,” he said. “In practice, I do shoot the ball a lot, but in a game you’re just trying to get back into the rhythm of shooting.
“I try and drive to the basket so that I can get a high-percentage shot while I’m in there. We do have shooters on the team, so I try and create a shot for those guys.”
Tat could very well see more playing time when Virginia plays at North Carolina on Saturday. In his postgame press conference, Leitao said, given the team’s poor starts to games, he may tinker with the starting lineup.
“I’ll look at it [on Thursday] after I get a chance to talk with the staff and review the film and that kind of thing,” he said.
Dunks
While there weren’t too many positives emerging from the team’s sixth straight loss, Virginia did commit just seven turnovers, which tied a season low. In the loss to Duke on Sunday, UVa had 17 turnovers at the half before finishing with 23. … Another positive stat was the Wahoos’ second-half defense. After allowing BC to shoot 68 percent from the field in the first half, the Wahoos, using a 3-2 zone, held the Eagles to 36-percent shooting after the break. UVa also had a season-high 13 steals. … Sylven Landesberg (32 points) scored in double figures for the 14th time this season. Landesberg had his 11th 20-point game of the season, extending his UVa
freshman record for 20-point games in a season. It was the first 30-point game by a Virginia freshman since Chris Williams scored 34 points against Liberty in 1998-99.

 

Second shot at Vols gives Cavaliers chance for revenge
Team’s head coach Guilbeau disappointed in young squad being ‘out-competed’ lately
Paul Montana, Cavalier Daily Senior Associate Editor
Published: Friday, February 6 2009

“It’s disturbing.”

That’s how Virginia women’s tennis coach Mark Guilbeau described his young squad’s 2-5 loss to Tennessee Saturday at the ITA National Indoors Qualifier, which cost the team a trip to the National Indoors tournament next weekend.

This weekend, however, the No. 29 Cavaliers (3-1) get a chance at redemption. After a road match with No. 31 Ohio State (3-2) Friday, Virginia will travel to Knoxville Sunday where they get another shot at the No. 22 Lady Vols, whom Virginia has never beaten during Guilbeau’s three years as coach.

“Several times now, we’ve had to learn lessons from Tennessee,” senior Maggie Yahner said. “They yet again taught us another important lesson.”

Though Guilbeau admitted that Tennessee is “a better team,” he was nonetheless frustrated with his squad’s showing in Saturday’s loss, particularly from his big guns in singles; junior Jennifer Stevens, freshman Emily Fraser and freshman Lindsey Hardenbergh all lost at the top three singles positions.

Guilbeau noted, however, that he was only able to view these matches from afar, because he spent most of his time at the No. 4 through No. 6 singles courts. Although he said he could hear that they were losing, it was not until he spoke with some of his colleagues at the tournament that he heard the worst news of all.

“I had three or four coaches — all the coaches at the tournament — tell me, ‘You guys got out-competed there [against Tennessee],’” Guilbeau said. “That was an awful thing to hear. I know our kids try hard and they want it, but there’s always another level, and Tennessee showed us that big time.”

Guilbeau said that it wasn’t a matter of effort or desire to win — the errors, he said, were more in the preparation and the mental approach to the matches.

“We always talk about our strengths to their weaknesses, and understanding that, having an intelligence towards that or at least an attention towards that,” Guilbeau said. “I don’t know that we did that real well.”

Guilbeau added that his players need to be more patient when picking their moments to hit a winner and must realize that an opponent’s error is just as valuable as a great shot from Virginia.

Then, there was simply the attitude, which was a factor in the team’s loss. Guilbeau has said throughout the season his team has not always been on the same frequency as the coaches — whether it was in accomplishing team goals or even respecting the coaching staff’s wishes. Against Tennessee, these internal conflicts manifested themselves.

Tennessee was “out-competing in terms of handling nerves, out-competing in terms of our demeanor and our positive expressions,” Guilbeau said. “I could hear Tennessee every 30 seconds with a verbal positive.”

Guilbeau addressed all of these shortcomings in a team meeting that he called at Virginia’s first practice after the loss Tuesday. Then, much to Guilbeau’s surprise and delight, the freshman Hardenbergh — whose maturity and work ethic Guilbeau admires — asked if she could speak to the team as well.

At the meeting, Guilbeau said, Hardenbergh handed out laminated cards on which she had written the goal of making the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16. The cards also illustrated a bracket that showed Tennessee in the ITA NationalIndoors draw as a reminder of what the team failed to accomplish last weekend. Guilbeau said that Hardenbergh was drawing from legendary men’s basketball coach Bob Knight’s book “Knight: My Story”, in which Knight discusses how he had his 1984 men’s basketball Olympic team wear gold medals around their necks before the tournament started as a reminder of the team’s ultimate goal.

Hardenbergh’s talk was “an incredible step that a young kid would take to step up and positively support and challenge her team,” Guilbeau said. “What she presented us needs to be filled up with all kinds of habits and actions so that that goal starts to really carry some significance.”

The Cavaliers get their first chance to measure the effect of Hardenbergh’s presentation Friday against Ohio State. Though Ohio State has no ranked singles players or double teams in the top 125 in the country, their No. 31 national ranking is comparable to Virginia at No. 29, and Guilbeau made it clear that the similarity in team rankings does the two programs justice.

“That’s gonna be a heck of a battle — I’d say it’s 50-50,” Guilbeau said, adding, “I know if we play our very best and compete our very best, that’s a match we can win.”

The main event of the weekend, however, is clearly Tennessee. It’s not often in college tennis that a team gets a chance to avenge a loss the very next weekend, particularly at such a pivotal moment not only for the team, but for a program still in search of an identity.

“It’s ironic,” Guilbeau said. “You’re very fortunate in sports to have the opportunity after a setback to sometimes go right back and get it.”

 

Red-hot Heels loom large as lackluster Cavs travel South
After Wednesday loss to Boston College, Virginia must face No. 3 North Carolina
Aaron Perryman, Cavalier Daily Senior Writer
Published: Friday, February 6 2009

Sophomore guard Mustapha Farrakhan was the only substitution made during the second half in Virginia’s loss to Boston College.
A streaking North Carolina team is not what a slumping Virginia men’s basketball squad wants to play right now, but it is what the brutal ACC schedule next presents the Cavaliers.

Virginia (7-10, 1-6 ACC) travels to Chapel Hill tomorrow at 4 p.m. to take on the No. 3 Tar Heels (20-2, 6-2 ACC), winners of six straight games. After starting off its ACC schedule with two losses to Boston College and Wake Forest, North Carolina rebounded with a dominating 83-61 defeat of Virginia at John Paul Jones Arena Jan. 15. The Tar Heels have not looked back since and have outscored opponents by 16.5 points per game during their winning streak. North Carolina most recently topped Maryland Tuesday in a 108-91 shootout at home.

Virginia, meanwhile, has lost six consecutive games, winning its last game Jan. 6 against Brown. Additionally, the Cavaliers have not won an ACC game since the conference opener, when they topped Georgia Tech in Atlanta 88-84 in overtime Dec. 28. In its latest ACC loss, Virginia fell at home to Boston College 80-70 Wednesday night.

The Cavaliers are aware of the ACC’s strength and realize how difficult it is to turn around a season in such a demanding conference.

“There are no breaks in this league,” Virginia sophomore guard Jeff Jones said. “Every game is tough.”

One would think that after losing six games — one after the other — a team’s psyche would be damaged. Virginia players, however, insist on not throwing in the towel.

“We don’t fear anyone,” Virginia freshman guard Sylven Landesberg said. “We’re going to go out there and continue playing, even if we are in a slump. We’re not going to back down.”

The price of backing down on the road in the strong ACC can be high, as evidenced by the 27-point beatings highly-ranked Duke and Wake Forest suffered Wednesday night against Clemson and Miami, respectively.

Should Virginia fail to come out with an aggressive attitude, the Tar Heels certainly have the talent to turn the game into a blowout.

Though his numbers are down from last year, North Carolina senior forward Tyler Hansbrough continues to lead the Tar Heels in scoring with 22.4 points per game, tied for 12th in the nation with Oklahoma sophomore forward Blake Griffin. Hansbrough and freshman forward Ed Davis share the team lead in rebounds with 7.6 per game.

Against the Cavaliers Jan. 15, Hansbrough recorded 28 points, although 15 of those came off of free throws. As a result, the Cavaliers are trying to limit the number of easy points they give last year’s NCAA Player of the Year.

“I learned a lot from when I played against [Hansbrough] the first time,” Virginia freshman center Assane Sene said. “I got in foul trouble [the first time against North Carolina] so I’m going to play smart in the game, be patient and try not to get in foul trouble.”

Even if the Cavaliers are able to contain Hansbrough somewhat, they will still have to contend with four other Tar Heels who are averaging double figures in scoring: junior guards Ty Lawson (15.5 ppg) and Wayne Ellington (14.8 ppg), senior forward Danny Green (13.4 ppg) and junior forward Deon Thompson (11.6 ppg).

An aggressive attitude is one that coach Dave Leitao has recently attempted to instill in his team more than ever. A drastically different second half starting lineup cut Boston College’s lead into single digits Wednesday night. Leitao noted after the game that he started who he thought would play with the most energy. Now, it is unclear whether the starting lineup will be different tomorrow, and the Cavalier players expressed a similar ambivalence toward the possibility and the question of whether such changes could help the team.

“I’m not really sure [if a new lineup would help],” Landesberg said. “It may, it may not. We’ll just have to play it out and see what happens.”

Landesberg was the only starter who was not on the bench at the beginning of the second half Wednesday, and he continues to be a bright spot during an otherwise dismal year. The freshman poured in a career-high 32 points against the Eagles, and Leito may even ask him to take on more point guard duties as the rest of the year progresses.

“I’ve got to look at him a little bit more as a primary ball-handler because he doesn’t really turn it over and he tries more than anybody else on the team to go north and south,” Leitao said.

One aspect of the Cavaliers’ play that needs remedying if they are to even be within single digits of North Carolina at the half is their recent trend of starting slow in games. Virginia’s average deficit at halftime for its past five games is 17 points, creating a significant hole for the Cavaliers to start the second half of games.

“I think it’s a defensive lapse and then when that happens, the offense starts going down,” Landesberg said. “So it’s a combination of both.”


 

Singh keeps pushing ahead
By Whitey Reid
Published: February 6, 2009

First came the tingling sensation in his legs. Next was the intense pain in his quadriceps, which quickly spread to his calves.
Before Sanam Singh knew what was going on, muscle cramps had invaded the entire lower half of his body and the Virginia men’s tennis team’s dreams of an undfeated, championship season had wilted in the Oklahoma heat.
It had all happened so quickly.
Just an hour earlier, the Cavaliers seemed on their way to winning the school’s first NCAA championship. Virginia and Georgia were tied at three in the NCAA semifinals. Singh had won the first set of his match against the Bulldogs’ Jamie Hunt and was tied at 3 in the second set.
Then came the cramps.
“It’s one of the worst feelings I’ve ever felt,” Singh recalled. “Basically, all of your muscles are just frozen. They contract … once it hits you, it just spreads like wildfire.”
Singh, with all of his teammates and a large Virginia fan base watching his decisive match, valiantly attempted to play through the pain. However, it was obvious to everybody that he could barely move.
“It was hard to watch,” said Virginia co-captain Houston Barrick, Singh’s roommate and doubles partner. “You just felt for him. He kind of looked like he was out on an island by himself.”
Despite a couple of medical timeouts and some extra hydration, Singh couldn’t rid himself of the pain. The freshman dropped the next nine games, losing 6-0 in the third set.
Singh was crushed.
“I had nightmares for a while,” said Singh, who isn’t sure why he cramped up — he believes he was properly hydrated, “but you have to get over those kinds of things. That’s how you learn I guess. It was really sad the way it happened.
“I lost a lot of sleep for the first few nights, just thinking about it. Normal losses are hard, but when you lose like that…”
Singh credits his teammates for helping him through the tough times. The close-knit, family atmosphere that Virginia coach Brian Boland has fostered during his tenure was just what the doctor ordered.
“Everyone was just ridiculously supportive,” Singh said.
That selflessness said a lot, given the team’s grand expectations. Until the loss to Georgia, Virginia — behind two-time individual NCAA champion Somdev Devvarman — had steamrolled the competition, going 32-0.
“As a team, you hate to go out like that,” Barrick said, “but [Singh] gave it his all and went down fighting. At the end of the day, that’s all you can do. It’s just tennis.
“We just kept telling him, ‘It’s just tennis and the sun’s going to come up tomorrow morning no matter what.’ We were all sad, but you know, you just move on.”
While he was empathetic for Singh and his team at the time, Boland now chooses to view the episode in a more positive light.
“I always tell the players that you don’t learn about people when everything’s going well and you’re winning,” Boland said. “You learn the most when times are tough.
“That’s when you find out about someone’s true character and what kind of person they are.”
Boland calls Singh, now a sophomore, “an amazing kid.”
“He’s a great young man, so well-grounded,” he said. “He’s mature beyond his years.
“I think it’s an experience that will only make him stronger.”
This season, Singh is
being counted on to pick up some of the slack left by Devvarman’s departure. So far, he’s delivered, going 4-0 in dual match play in the
No. 2 and 3 singles spots heading into Virginia’s match against Kentucky tonight at The Boar’s Head Sports Club.
Ever since last spring, Singh says he has worked on his strength in an effort to ward off future bouts with muscle cramps.
Singh admits that he often dreams about having the chance to replay that third set against Georgia. While he said he wouldn’t mind playing Hunt again, he says that’s not what is most important.
“I just want the whole team to do well,” he said. “I don’t care for my revenge.”