What’s the timetable for Cavs’ success?
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: April 5, 2009

Craig Littlepage was put on the spot a few times during a short chat with sportswriters following the press conference where Tony Bennett was officially introduced as Virginia’s new basketball coach.

Littlepage didn’t mind. He didn’t always have the answer, but he tried to go with the flow in response to some probing questions.

A few of those questions were particularly intriguing. Given time, the UVa director of athletics probably could have given much more detailed answers, but in such a brief session, it was still interesting to listen to his thoughts.

What are realistic expectations for this basketball program? How long is it going to take to get back to the NCAA tournament? What’s the biggest difference from the glory years of UVa basketball in comparison to the past 12 years, what’s missing?

Inquiring minds wanted to know.

A history of success

Throw out Terry Holland’s first year as the Cavaliers’ coach (1974-75) and over the next 15 seasons, he directed 13 winning campaigns, nine NCAA tournament appearances, two Final Fours, four NIT appearances, one NIT championship, and the school’s only ACC tournament championship.

His successor, Jeff Jones, who also played for Holland, had six winning seasons out of eight. In having the best first five years of any men’s basketball coach in UVa history, Jones had five NCAA appearances, one NIT appearance and one NIT title. His 1994-95 squad was on the doorstep of the Final Four when it simply ran out of gas.

Pete Gillen had four winning seasons in seven. He also had one break-even campaign, and you could throw out his first season as well, when he took over a program that had finished 11-19 the year before and was short of scholarship players when he took the reins.

Dave Leitao’s first year was somewhat of a throwaway season as well, as he inherited a squad that had finished 14-15. Still, in four years, Leitao had two winning seasons and one break-even campaign.

So that’s 25 winning seasons and two break-even seasons over the last 35 years.

Ripe for the picking

Virginia fans expect to field a winner and rightfully so. It has been done enough with inadequate facilities and a lack of commitment from some previous administrations that winning should not be a problem at UVa.

“I think that we’re right there in terms of being able to move up in the conference standings, into fourth, fifth or sixth,” Littlepage said of next season.

He was convinced that because Virginia played a lot of close games this past season with a young team, things will be better next season. The ACC is likely to not be as strong, either, especially with so many of its best players now finished with college ball.

“Those things are indication to me that we’re not that far away,” he said.

The end of the Jones era, the end of the Gillen era and the end of the Leitao era all had one thing in common in that there wasn’t a strong group of assistant coaches on board, which effected every phase of the program — recruiting, coaching, communication, etc.

That’s not to say there weren’t any decent coaches on those staffs, but the overall collection of coaches didn’t get it done.

Bennett said his first priority was his staff, so the eyes of Wahoo Nation are closely following the process. They’ve seen things blow up too many times when staffs had their shortcomings.

When is it realistic for UVa fans to expect a return to the NCAA tournament?

It’s a tough question for an AD to answer, especially after the program has been to the NCAAs only twice in the past 12 years, with only a win over mid-major Albany to show for all the blood, sweat and tears.

“You’re never sure about these things,” Littlepage said. “There’s still a lot of work to do in terms of putting a staff together, indoctrinating the players into [Bennett’s] system.

“This is something that’s going to take a couple of years to build, no doubt about it,” Littlepage said. “I can’t tell you how long it’s going to take. Certainly we’re right there.”

What Littlepage told Bennett offered a little more clarification, on at least what UVa’s expectations are in terms of getting back to the Big Dance.

“When I talked with Craig, he understands it’s going to take three or four years to get your system, get your players,” Bennett said. “Hopefully, there will be success along the way. In your first year, you’ve got to figure stuff out. I can’t tell you how far we’ll get this year, but I want them to compete like crazy. But I can’t answer how many wins.”

Bennett and his staff will be trying to figure who can play and who can’t. They’ll be trying to figure out the ACC. They’ll be trying to figure out what current players on the roster can thrive in their system. They’ll be trying to figure out recruiting in this state, the East Coast, and who they can get into school.

That’s a lot of work, very demanding work.

In all fairness, the query to Littlepage about the differences between the glory days — when he was twice an assistant for Holland and an administrator during the Jones’ years — was not a question that could be answered without some study.

Littlepage will probably revisit that question once he has time to think about all those factors. Meanwhile, he provided this response.

“It’s about getting a nucleus of real good players that play together, play smart, play hard, and don’t beat themselves,” he said. “I would say that over the next couple of years the development of our program will lead us to the kind of sustained success and consistent performances we had in the late ’70s on through the mid ’90s.”

Perhaps we will explore that last question further in the coming months.

On a side note, we thought it was interesting that the Memphis Commercial Appeal wrote that Virginia’s biggest basketball booster, Paul Tudor Jones, also had a finger in the John Calipari pie at Memphis last week.

The Commercial Appeal reported that last Monday afternoon, when it appeared certain that Calipari would jump to Kentucky (which he eventually did), that three influential Memphians, including major donors William B. Dunavant, John Stokes, and Paul Tudor Jones, met with Calipari in a last-ditch effort to keep him at Memphis. Later that evening, FedEx Chairman and CEO Frederick W. Smith went to Calipari’s home for another meeting, as the four men attempted to present a retirement package and incentives that were described as “unique” in order to keep Calipari.

 

Plan to save Leitao short-circuited in the end
Nothing to Greenberg-to-Arizona buzz
By Doug Doughty

One of the untold stories about Virginia's coaching search - or, at least, untold by me - concerns Tulane University coach Dave Dickerson.

At one point, there was some thought that Dickerson, an assistant at Radford in the middle 1990s, might be coming to Virginia.

Here's the kicker: If Dickerson had come to Virginia, the plan was for him to join the staff of former head coach Dave Leitao. Dickerson would have been assistant.

From everything I've heard, Leitao was OK with the plan. Remember, less than three weeks ago, Leitao was still the coach.

It wasn't until Virginia determined that it couldn't get Dickerson or one or two other assistants with a similar profile that it decided to cut ties with Leitao.

If you don't think that was the plan, consider what happened when ex-Washington State head coach Tony Bennett got the Virginia job. His first hire was an active Division I head coach, Liberty's Ritchie McKay.

I never thought that Virginia could get Dickerson, who has been the head coach at Tulane for five years, unless he sensed that he lacked security in New Orleans. (Dickerson played at Maryland and was a Terps' assistant when they won the NCAA title in 2002).

A 14-17 record this year gave Dickerson a 60-62 record as Tulane head coach, but the bio on the Green Wave's athletic website credits him with the program's resurgence after posting four losing records in the previous five seasons.

If Dickerson ever gave Virginia a hint that he might agree to joining Leitao as an assistant, that plan fell apart when it became increasingly apparent that a second straight losing season in 2009-2010 would cost his Leitao his job.

My understanding is that Virginia had hoped to hire two high-powered assistants to resurrect the Leitao regime and was prepared to offer multiyear contracts to make that a reality.

In the end, it just didn't make sense for a Dickerson to leave a Division I head-coaching job of his own volition when it was possible he would be out of a job one year later, no matter how big a parachute UVa gave him.

WHAT MAKES ME WONDER is whether Virginia had sent out feelers to see if McKay would have been willing to come to Charlottesville to assist Leitao.

McKay and Bennett had a relationship dating back to their days on the West Coast. McKay can see that the Bennett staff has a future, but what stands about his decision is that he hasn't been averse to moving.

He was at Bradley for two years as an assistant, at Washington for two years as an assistant, at Portland State for two years as a head coach, at Oregon State for two years as a head coach, at New Mexico for five years as head coach and at Liberty for the past two seasons.

You can't blame McKay for leaving New Mexico, where he was fired after five seasons, including a 26-7 season that took him to the NCAA Tournament in 2005. He is an Indianapolis native who went to high school in Mesa, Ariz., and played at Seattle Pacific.

McKay probably has developed some Virginia contacts during his two seasons at Liberty, but if the Cavaliers feel Bennett needs some in-state recruiting ties in his first East Coast coaching tenure, a case could be made for another Virginian.

VIRGINIA TECH COACH Seth Greenberg was in Windsor, Ontario, visiting with other coaches in town for the Final Four in nearby Detroit when he was interrupted by a flurry of text messages Friday night concerning the opening at Arizona.

Greenberg once served as head coach at Long Beach State and was mentioned by Orange County Register columnist Mark Whicker for the opening that would have developed at Southern Cal if Trojans' head coach Tim Floyd had left for Arizona.

Greenberg headed a Whicker list that included Randy Bennett, Jamie Dixon and Dan Monson.

OK, I know that Dixon is at Pitt and I've heard at Monson, but not since Minnesota. As for Bennett, I had no clue until I just looked him up. He's the coach for NCAA Tournament wannabe St. Mary's (and Monson is now at Long Beach State).

Floyd ended up staying at SC, so media outlets in Arizona started accumulating names of possible candidates for the Wildcats' job and somehow Greenberg's name was transferred from one list to another.

Far be it from me to stir something up, but when I texted Greenberg and said Jerry Colangelo had called our office and asked about his whereabouts, he'd had enough. "I will be coach at vt for long time," he texted me, then added in a second text that Tech athletic director Jim Weaver knew he had not spoken to Arizona.

I mentioned Colangelo because he's the most prominent Arizona basketball name I know and, as it turns out, he was at the same coaches' dinner as Greenberg.
 

Virginia closes out regular season
By Whitey Reid
Published: April 5, 2009

Amid the hoopla of the search for a new basketball coach, a record-setting seven-overtime thriller in lacrosse and a strong start by the baseball team, it’s easy to forget the continued success of the Virginia men’s tennis team.

On Friday, No. 1 UVa remained undefeated on the season with a 4-3 victory over No. 25 Duke.

The win was Virginia’s 39th consecutive over an ACC opponent (regular season and tournament) and 46th consecutive home victory, extending both school records.

This afternoon, the Cavaliers (23-0, 8-0 ACC) will look to keep things rolling when they conclude the home portion of their regular-season schedule against North Carolina (14-6, 3-4). Match time at the Snyder Tennis Center is 1 p.m. Admission is free.

Today’s match will be senior day for Dom Inglot, Nick Meros and Leif Sunderland.

“It’s going to be a beautiful day and a great opportunity for fans to come out and wish the seniors well,” said Virginia coach Brian Boland. “It’s a chance to watch some great college tennis and send our seniors off in a positive way.”
 

No. 1 Virginia Posts 11-10 Win Over North Carolina
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 04/04/2009

E. RUTHERFORD, N.J.—Virginia used a 7-1 run to erase a 4-goal deficit and rally for an 11-10 win over North Carolina this afternoon at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.

With the win the top-ranked Cavaliers move to 12-0 overall this season and 2-0 in the ACC. The win is the Cavaliers’ third 1-goal win in a row, the first time in school history that has happened. Overall it is their fourth 1-goal game of the spring.

North Carolina, ranked 10th, lost for the third time in its last four games and is now 8-4 this season and 0-3 in the ACC.

“We’re certainly happy to get the win,” said Virginia head coach Dom Starsia. “I’m proud of my team. We’ve had a lot of tough games; it’s really hard to win.”

Virginia attackmen Garrett Billings and Danny Glading opened the scoring with early goals as the Cavaliers opened a quick 2-0 lead with barely three minutes played.

The Cavaliers’ lead held for several minutes before the Tar Heels rattled off the next five goals over the next 20 minutes to build a 7-3 lead midway through the second quarter. Billy Bitter scored three of his game-high five goals to highlight the run.

“I thought (North) Carolina carried the play to us early,” Starsia said. “The first couple of minutes I thought we came out and we looked okay and I thought Carolina turned the game around and kind of carried the play to us for about 15 or 20 minutes.”

Sophomore midfielder Shamel Bratton single handedly brought the Cavaliers back with three straight goals to draw Virginia within one goal (7-6) at halftime. For his performance Bratton was named the game’s MVP.

The Tar Heels suffered a big loss when starting goalie Grant Zimmerman appeared to injure his knee at the 9:57 mark of the second quarter. At the time of his injury, North Carolina held a 5-2 lead. He made seven saves before getting injured and did not return. His replacement, freshman James Petracca, recorded 11 saves in the most extensive action of his young career.

“I thought about midway through the second quarter we kind of got back to it again,” said Starsia. “When we were down 7-3, I never thought we lost our poise and I would say that that’s probably as defining a characteristic of this team as anything else.”

Brian Carroll tied the score less than a minute-and-a-half into the second half with the first of his two third-quarter goals. John Haldy scored for fifth time in the last six games with nine minutes and 32 seconds remaining in the third quarter to give the Cavaliers an 8-7 lead. His goal was Virginia’s fifth in a row over a little more than 11 minutes.

Bitter scored his only goal of the second half in an unsettled situation in front of the Cavalier goal to knot the score at eight at the 3:46 mark of the third quarter. After scoring four first-half goals, the Virginia coaching staff made a defensive switch and assigned Matt Kelly to him and limited him to the lone goal.

Carroll gave the Cavaliers the lead for good by knocking in a rebound of a Steele Stanwick miss past Petracca with 1:58 remaining in the quarter. Carroll’s goal was UVa’s third off a rebound in the game.

Glading stretched the lead to two goals at 10-8 14 seconds into the final quarter with a remarkable one-handed shot from the left side.

Gavin Petracca, older brother of goalie James, got free on the crease and took a pass from Sean Burke to score his only goal of the game with 10 and a half minutes remaining as North Carolina again cut UVa’s lead to one (10-9).

Billings extended the lead to two goals by taking a pass in front from Shamel Bratton and easily depositing the ball into the back of the net.

Wagner’s second extra-man goal of the game with 8:05 left to play enabled the Tar Heels to close within one at 11-10. Virginia goalie Adam Ghitelman recorded two saves in the final 30 seconds, including one with a second left, to enable his team to win. Ghitelman notched 11 saves in the game.

Virginia returns to action next Saturday against Duke in Durham. The game is set to face off at 4 pm and will be televised by ESPN2.

North Carolina 3-4-1-2—10 record: 8-4/0-3 ACC
Virginia 2-4-3-2—11 record: 12-0/2-0 ACC
att—NA

Scoring (G-A)—NC: Billy Bitter 5-0, Bart Wagner 2-0, Sean Delaney 1-2, Michael Burns 1-0, Gavin Petracca 1-0, Sean Burke 0-1, Bobby McAuley 0-1. Va: Shamel Bratton 3-1, Danny Glading 3-0, Garrett Billings 2-0, Brian Carroll 2-0, John Haldy 1-0, Steve Giannone 0-1.

Goalie Summary—NC: Grant Zimmerman 20:02 mins., 17 saves, 2 goals allowed; James Petracca 39:58 mins., 11 svs., 9 GA. Va: Adam Ghitelman 60 mins., 11 saves, 10 goals allowed.

Shots: NC—40, Va—45
Ground Balls: NC—41, Va—39
Clearing: NC—14x20, Va—14x16
Faceoffs: NC—14, Va—11
Penalties: NC—1-1:00, Va—4-2:30
EMO: NC—2x4, Va—0x1

 

Princeton Lacrosse Tops Syracuse Before Record Crowd
By BRIAN HEYMAN
Published: April 4, 2009

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — There was something going on Saturday at Giants Stadium that had never been seen here before. The sport of lacrosse had finally arrived.

Six men’s college teams received invitations to the inaugural Big City Classic. Among them they owned 24 national championships and 67 final four appearances.

Five of the teams in the tripleheader are ranked in the top 10, including No. 1 Virginia and No. 2 Syracuse, the reigning national champion. The Cavaliers and the Orange were billed as the class of the field in the race to finish among the four teams that will play for the N.C.A.A. title Memorial Day weekend at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. On Saturday, neither particularly looked the part.

Virginia remained unbeaten through 12 games, but it had to rally from four goals behind in the second quarter to edge No. 10 North Carolina, 11-10, in the opener. Syracuse, which fell to Virginia by one goal in February, was beaten, 12-8, by No. 5 Princeton. No. 7 Hofstra defeated unranked Delaware, 10-8, to cap a card that drew a crowd of 22,308, a record for a regular-season lacrosse-only audience.

After watching Virginia play and despite beating Syracuse, Princeton Coach Bill Tierney stuck to the notion that the Cavaliers and the Orange were the best college teams.

“You’ve got a group of athletes that are just at a different level when you talk about 25 or 30 guys,” Tierney said. “Fortunately, it’s only played by 10 at a time. There was a lot of spirit and a lot of guys with confidence who went out there. We got a couple of breaks, but we made a couple of breaks.

“But I still think athletically, if you watched the end of the year last year, that’s what this thing comes down to. People talk about parity during the year. That happens because of mental approach. You watch Memorial Day weekend, when you’ve got to play on Saturday and Monday, that’s when you see this thing. That’s why they’re tough to beat on a weekend.”

Princeton (8-1) proved a tough opponent for Syracuse (7-2), with Jack McBride and Mark Kovler each scoring three times and Tyler Fiorito, a freshman goaltender, turning away 15 shots.

But Syracuse has had more than just lacrosse to deal with lately.

Brian Crockett, a three-time all-American when he played for the Orange from 2003 to 2006, was killed in a car accident on March 27. He was 26.

Syracuse Coach John Desko, an assistant and 11 seniors traveled to Crockett’s wake on Tuesday in his hometown, Yorktown, N.Y., in Westchester County. On Saturday, an orange T-shirt was taped to the end of the Syracuse bench. Its front said “Syracuse Lacrosse” and had Crockett’s lifespan, 1983-2009; its back had his name, his No. 7 and 118:24, a reference to the Book of Psalms.

“I think it was a tough week,” Pat Perritt, a senior midfielder for Syracuse, said. “But after Tuesday, we tried to move on and just try to play lacrosse. I think it came to down the fact that we didn’t execute today. We didn’t execute offensively.”

Each of the six teams here signed a two-year commitment to play in the Classic, which was organized by Inside Lacrosse magazine.

The site of next year’s event has not been determined. Giants Stadium is scheduled to close after the football season. The organizers say they do not know if the new stadium, rising in the parking lot, will be ready.

Virginia Coach Dom Starsia said it was a plus to be here.

“I think it’s great,” he said. “I was struck yesterday walking in here feeling like if we’re fortunate to be playing through to the final weekend of the season, an experience like this has got to help us, just being in this kind of stadium and this kind of atmosphere.”

 

#1 Virginia rallies for win over UNC
Related Links
NO. 1 VIRGINIA 11, NO. 10 NORTH CAROLINA 10
Men's lacrosse
STAFF REPORTS
Published: April 5, 2009

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Top-ranked Virginia rallied from four goals down to secure an 11-10 ACC men's lacrosse win over No. 10 North Carolina at Giants Stadium yesterday in the inaugural Big City Classic.

The Cavs have now won three straight one-goal decisions for the first time in team history.

Shamel Bratton and Danny Glading had three goals each for the Cavaliers (12-0), including one apiece in the first three minutes of play. Garrett Billings and Brian Carroll each added two for U.Va.

This was the opening game of the inaugural Big City Classic, an event sponsored by Inside Lacrosse magazine. In the second game, Princeton beat Syracuse 12-8, also at Giants Stadium.

North Carolina led by as many as four goals at the midway point of the second quarter, but Bratton netted three straight to put the Cavs back in the game. Bratton's three-goal outburst earned him the honor as the games MVP.

Less than two minutes into the second half, Carroll netted his first goal to tie the game. His second score - a rebound off of the Tar Heels' Steele Stanwick missed shot - proved to be the game winner. The goal came with 1:58 remaining in the fourth quarter and was the Cavs' third off a rebound.

Goalie Adam Ghitelman had 11 saves for Virginia and Billy Bitter led North Carolina with five goals. The Tar Heels' starting goalie Grant Zimmerman snagged seven saves before apparantly injuring his knee at the 9:57 mark of the second quarter. James Petracca took over for Zimmerman and tallied 11 saves.

North Carolina ------------------------- 3 4 1 2 - 10
Virginia ------------------------- 2 4 3 2 - 11

NC: Bitter 5, Wagner 2, Delaney, Burns, Petracca

Virgina: Bratton 3, Glading 3, Billings 2, Carroll 2, Haldy

Assists: NC: Delaney 2, Burke, McAuley. Virginia: Bratton, Giannone.

Saves: NC: Zimmerman 17; Petracca 11. Virginia: Ghitelman 11.


 

Maryland Grand Slam Dooms No. 10 Baseball in 8-7 Loss
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 04/04/2009

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Maryland’s Dan Benick hit a grand slam to cap a five-run eighth inning as the Terrapins recorded an 8-7 win over the No. 10 Virginia baseball team Saturday at Davenport Field.

The one-run defeat was UVa’s fourth this season and snapped a 19-game winning streak against the Terrapins, dating back to April 6, 2002. It also was Maryland’s first win in Charlottesville since April 25, 1999. All five of UVa's losses this year have come by two runs or fewer.

Steven Proscia (Fr., Suffern, N.Y.) put up a career-best four hits, including three doubles, to lead the UVa offense. Dan Grovatt (So., Tabernacle, N.J.) added a pair of hits.

Virginia starting pitcher Andrew Carraway (Sr., Marietta, Ga.) went seven innings, allowing three earned runs, five hits and two walks while striking out six. Kevin Arico (So., Flemington, N.J.) took the loss after coming on in the eighth and allowing three straight batters to reach – all three eventually scored. He falls to 1-1 on the year.

Ian Schwalenberg (2-2) picked up the win for Maryland after tossing 1.2 innings and giving up two runs (one earned), three hits and one walk while striking out one. Dan Gentzler earned his first save after retiring the final two batters in the ninth inning. UM starter Brett Swinson went 5.1 innings and gave up five earned runs, nine hits and two walks while striking out one.

Maryland (14-16, 4-10 ACC) started off quickly, as David Poutier walked to lead off and scored two batters later when Mike Murphy took an outside 0-2 pitch and homered into the left-field bleachers.

Virginia (25-5, 7-5) needed just two pitches to get a run back as Jarrett Parker (So., Stafford, Va.) ripped a home run of his own into the bleachers. It was Parker’s eighth long ball of the year and his fourth to lead off a game.

The Terrapins got the run back in the fourth inning on a two-out single up the middle by Mike Moss, which scored Will Greenberg.

UVa turned the two-run deficit into a two-run lead in a four-run sixth inning which knocked Swinson from the game. With one out, Proscia doubled to left field. He advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a Tyler Cannon (Jr., Pigeon Forge, Tenn.) infield single. John Hicks (Fr., Sandy Hook, Va.) followed with a double to move Cannon to third, and both runners came home on a double by David Coleman (So., Richmond, Va.). Corey Hunt (R-So., Charlottesville, Va.) then hit a single to center to score Coleman and give UVa a 5-3 lead.

The Terrapins put the first four runners on in the eighth inning to start their rally. Poutier and Jordan Pupa hit consecutive singles to start the inning and Murphy followed with a single to plate Poutier and cut the lead to one. Matt Packer (Jr., Germantown, Tenn.) came on in relief and walked A.J. Casario before striking out Gerry Spessard. Benick then ripped the next pitch into the trees beyond the fence in left-center field for a grand slam to give the Terps an 8-5 lead.

UVa sliced a run off the lead in the eighth. Proscia led off with a double and scored with two outs on a pinch-hit single by Scott Silverstein (Fr., Olney, Md.). The Cavaliers’ opportunity to plate another run was thwarted when Greenberg made a diving stop of Parker grounder at first base to end the inning.

The Cavaliers made one final push in the ninth inning. With two out and runners on the corners, Gentzler made an errant pickoff throw to first base, allowing Danny Hultzen (Fr., Bethesda, Md.) to score from third. With a runner on second, Gentzler buckled down and struck out Cannon to end the game.

The teams conclude their three-game series at 1 p.m. Sunday.

 

Women’s Tennis Suffers Loss at No. 9 Duke
Courtesy: VirginiaSports.com
Release: 04/04/2009

DURHAM, N.C. – The No. 26 Virginia women’s tennis team suffered its fifth consecutive loss to a top-25 team, falling to No. 9 Duke 7-0 Saturday at the Ambler Tennis Stadium. The loss drops the Cavaliers’ record to 10-7 overall and 3-5 in the ACC.

In doubles play, the Blue Devils opened the match strong by sweeping all three matches. In singles, Duke took four matches in straight sets to extend their lead to 5-0. In the final two matches on the courts, Jennifer Stevens (Miami, Fla.) and Amanda Rales (Bethesda, Md.) lost in three sets to top 40 ranked players.

“The match was a good bit closer than the ultimate score, but definitely a case where Duke did not make mistakes on any courts at the key moments and therefore kept us off the scoreboard,” said Virginia head coach Mark Guilbeau. “It has been a tough stretch for this team to say the least, but we are very fortunate to have another opportunity ahead tomorrow and two more regular season matches to follow next week. We have every reason to keep fighting out there and work to have better success ahead.”

Virginia continues its road trip on Sunday as it visits North Carolina.

No. 9 Duke 7, No. 26 Virginia 0

Doubles
1. #18 Mang/Granson (Duke) def. #43 Fraser/Stevens (UVa) 8-4
2. Robinson/Cecil (Duke) def. Rales/Vaez (UVa) 8-3
3. Nze/Zsilinszka (Duke) def. Bartlett/Yahner (UVa) 8-6

Singles
1. #31 Mallory Cecil (Duke) def. #81 Emily Fraser (UVa) 6-1, 6-0
2. #28 Ellah Nze (Duke) def. #88 Jennifer Stevens (UVa) 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
3. #40 Reka Zsilinszka (Duke) def. Amanda Rales (UVa) 6-2, 4-6, 1-0
4. #75 Amanda Granson (Duke) def. Lindsey Hardenbergh (UVa) 6-2, 7-5
5. Melissa Mang (Duke) def. Claire Bartlett (UVa) 6-2, 6-2
6. Jessi Robinson (Duke) def. Karoline Steiro (UVa) 6-4, 7-5

Order of Finish:
Doubles: 2,1,3
Singles: 1,5,4,6,2,3