Cavs get early games for ACC Tournament
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
May 21, 2007

Numerous light towers are spread evenly around the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.

Virginia’s baseball team might as well forget about that facet of the 10,000-seat stadium.

On Sunday, the Cavaliers learned their schedule for this week’s ACC Tournament: Virginia, the third seed overall, will play three day games, one of which will kickoff the tournament on Wednesday against sixth-seeded North Carolina State (36-19) at 10 a.m.

UVa (41-13) also faces seventh-seeded Georgia Tech (31-23) at 4 p.m. on Thursday and second-seeded North Carolina (45-11) at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

Should the Cavaliers win their bracket, yet another day game will follow on Sunday when the top two teams from pool play, respectively, will meet at for the ACC Tournament championship (1 p.m.).

While it appears the ACC released the schedule solely to take advantage of Florida State’s large fan turnout at the event (the Seminoles play twice at 7 p.m. and once at 4 p.m.), Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said it “doesn’t matter” once the tournament starts.

“You have to go out and win the games either way,” said O’Connor, whose team was 31-8 this year in day games. “The nice thing about playing early Wednesday is that you get to play your game and you get it over with.”

If history serves as a factor, that could be a positive.

“Typically, every game after the first one is delayed or something happens because of extra innings. … This way, you will know when you play.”

The tournament’s other bracket includes top-seeded Florida State, No. 4 Clemson, No. 5 Miami and No. 8 Wake Forest.

While the tournament’s schedule remained a mystery for months, it came as no shock to Virginia’s coaches and players that they drew a date with N.C. State. The two programs have played in every ACC Tournament since 1996.

“That is wild,” said Virginia junior Brandon Guyer.

With the prospects of being taken in the Major League Baseball Draft increasing weekly for Guyer, he knows this may be the last chance to get redemption against the Wolfpack, who have won seven of the last nine in the series.

“N.C. State has had our number,” Guyer said. “And they already beat us twice this year, so we have to go out there, dig deep and get the job done.”

Due to some odd tiebreakers used to determine the winning team in pool play, Virginia will likely need to beat North Carolina on Saturday to have any chance of advancing to the title game. If there is a three-way tie at 2-1 in pool play that includes the Tar Heels, they would advance based upon their winning percentage in league play during the regular season.

Despite winning the regular-season series with UNC, 2-1, on the road this year, O’Connor said the tiebreaking policy might be a moot point.

“You just don’t know how a tournament goes,” the skipper said. “Somebody could get hot. You can’t look too far down the road. You just have to try to win the first game.

“Who knows, North Carolina may lose the first two games. You just never know what is going to happen this time of year.”

As for Virginia’s pitching plans, O’Connor is playing it close to the vest - for now. Jacob Thompson (10-0, 1.46 ERA) and Sean Doolittle (7-3, 2.63) are expected to start a game each.

“I don’t know what order they will pitch in,” O’Connor said. “I don’t know right now if Jacob Thompson will pitch in the first game.”

As for the third starter, that will not be determined until after the tournament gets underway.

Senior left-hander Casey Lambert (2-1, 1.25) is an option, but O’Connor would not rule out using the veteran out of the bullpen to secure a victory early in the tournament.

“I think Casey did a great job making his first start on Saturday [at Boston College],” O’Connor said. “I wanted to take a look at that and I know it’s a viable option. I can do that with Casey because I have very capable guys out of the pen in [Michael] Schwimer and [Jake] Rule.”

Two pitchers, one winner

Having finished the regular season undefeated on the mound, Thompson would appear statistically to be a lock to win the ACC Pitcher of the Year award, which is announced today.

That, however, might not be the case.

Florida State starter Bryan Henry was just as good, if not better. The senior was 14-0 with a 2.50 earned run average. He struck out 104 and walked just 24 in 104.1 innings pitched.

“They are both great pitchers,” O’Connor said. “You can’t argue with the year that Henry had and you can’t argue with the year that Jacob had.

“That’s going to happen quite often in this league. You are going to get two or three great pitchers up for that award almost every year.”

Thompson, a sophomore, fanned 93 and walked just 25 in 98.2 innings.

 

Cavs unveil bulldog tenacity
A confident Virginia faces Georgia with finals berth at stake
Monday, May 21, 2007 - 12:07 AM Updated: 12:37 AM

Three months ago, they met in the semifinals of the ITA Team Indoor National Championship in Chicago.

The much-anticipated rematch between men's tennis powers Georgia and Virginia will be outdoors today in Athens, Ga., Mother Nature willing.

In the semifinals of the NCAA tournament, top-seeded Georgia (30-0) meets No. 4 seed U.Va. (30-3) at noon. The winner will take on Illinois or Baylor for the NCAA title tomorrow afternoon, also in Athens.

In Chicago, the Bulldogs won the doubles point and went on to beat the Cavaliers 4-2 . Still, U.Va. coach Brian Boland said yesterday, "I think we match up very well against them."

Since their Feb. 18 loss to Georgia indoors, Boland said, the Cavaliers have "really improved as a team, both collectively and individually. We're playing our best tennis right now, and I still think there's a little bit more in us."

Virginia, which has reached the 30-victory mark for the first time in school history, is the first team from the ACC to advance to the NCAA semifinals in men's tennis. A victory today would run the Wahoos' winning streak to 17 matches and set another school record.

"We're having a blast, and that's so important," Boland said. "We have to continue to have fun."

Virginia already has won twice in Athens, beating Wake Forest on Thursday and Southern California on Saturday. Today, however, U.Va. will be facing a powerful team playing on its home courts.

"Let's just say there's thousands of screaming Georgia fans here," Boland said. That's another obstacle with which the Cavaliers will have to deal, but Boland says he's not concerned about fans rattling his players.

"We're used to the noise," he said. -- Jeff White

 

Tough task awaits for Cavaliers
Virginia will try to upend No. 1 Georgia on the Bulldogs' home tennis courts.
BY SAM STEINBERG/CORRESPONDENT
May 21, 2007

ATHENS, GA. -- The fourth-seeded Virginia men's tennis team will try to do what no other team has done this season: Beat Georgia (30-0).

The teams will square off in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament at noon today at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex.

On Saturday, the Cavaliers (30-3) beat No. 12 Southern California 4-1 to become the first ACC team ever to reach the semifinals.

"It is definitely a great accomplishment," said Treat Huey, a junior from Alexandria who played numerous tournaments in Hampton Roads while growing up.

"I feel all our guys have been playing great tennis right now. As a team, we feel that we could go out and upset No. 1 seed Georgia on their home court."

Georgia reached the semifinals by taking down No. 8 UCLA 4-0 in front an exuberant crowd of more than 3,100 fans wearing red.

The Bulldogs have a 33-match home winning streak since a loss in April 2005. The Cavaliers do not view the crowd as an unfair advantage.

"I don't think it is unfair at all. I think it is great, in fact, to see the host team having such a good crowd," said U.Va.'s Somdev Devvarman, the No. 2-ranked singles player in the country. "I think it is going to be a great environment for us and Georgia."

The Cavaliers are 0-12 against Georgia all-time and 0-1 this season.

On Feb. 18, the Cavaliers fell 4-2 to Georgia in a national indoor semifinal in Chicago, though they took five of the six first sets in singles.

"We felt it was a very completive match and that it could have gone either way," Huey said. "We are all excited to play another match against them and hopefully get revenge."

Today's match will feature a showdown between the top two players in the country, with No. 1-ranked John Isner facing Devvarman.

In the indoor match, Isner beat Devvarman 6-7, 6-4, 6-4.

"We got to keep it rolling because we play a very, very good Virginia team," Isner said.

In doubles to start the match, there will be another 1-2 showdown as No. 1 Isner and Luis Flores will take on No. 2 Devvarman and Huey.

"I know John really well," Devvarman said.

In the first semifinal, No. 3 Baylor (28-3) meets No. 10 Illinois (22-8) at 9 a.m.