5 Cavs honored with All-ACC selections
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
May 22, 2007

Despite finishing the season with a perfect 10-0 record, Virginia pitcher Jacob Thompson was forced to settle merely for a spot on the ACC’s 16-member first team.

On Monday, officials at the conference office announced the All-ACC award winners for the regular season, including four individual honorees as voted on by the league’s 12 head coaches.

In what many expected to be a tight race, Florida State senior Bryan Henry topped Thompson to win the ACC Pitcher of the Year. Henry, who also finished the season unbeaten, had 14 victories - four more than Virginia’s ace.

The Seminoles also claimed the Coach of the Year (Mike Martin) and Player of the Year (Tony Thomas). North Carolina’s Dustin Ackley, who is hitting .443 with 60 RBI, was named the ACC Freshman of the Year.

Florida State, which enters the ACC Championships on Wednesday as the event’s top seed, also had six players named to first team. North Carolina and Virginia, the top two teams in the Coastal Division, tied with three selections apiece.

In addition to Thompson, Virginia had LHP/1B Sean Doolittle (utility) and OF Brandon Guyer on the first team. Second baseman David Adams and reliever Casey Lambert were voted onto the second team.

“All of those players have worked really hard to accomplish those things,” said Virginia coach Brian O’Connor. “They are each very deserving and I am happy for them.”

O’Connor said the individual awards are also a testament to the team mentality that led to 41 regular season wins for the Cavaliers.

“Jacob Thompson doesn’t have that type of year if we don’t play defense and score runs behind him and the same is the case for a lot of those guys,” O’Connor said. “Individual awards are nice, but I know our players appreciate what their teammates do for them.”

Given Florida State’s stellar play in the conference portion of the season - the Seminoles went 24-6 in the league - O’Connor said most of the coaches knew they would walk away with numerous awards.

“They were dominating this year,” O’Connor said, “and it is warranted that they swept the awards because they had that type of year.”

Virginia, which remained ranked No. 8 in the country this week, will face North Carolina State on Wednesday at 10 a.m. in the first game of the ACC Tournament.

 

Virginia Men's Tennis Falls to No. 1 Georgia in NCAA Semifinals
Somdev Devvarman downs nation's No. 1 ranked player
May 21, 2007

ATHENS, Ga. - The Virginia men's tennis team had its run in the 2007 NCAA Tournament come to an end Monday with a 4-1 semifinal loss to No. 1 Georgia at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. The Cavaliers end the season with a 30-4 record, while the Bulldogs (31-0) advance to meet Illinois in the championship match Tuesday.

"We are obviously disappointed with the outcome," said Virginia head coach Brian Boland, "We came here to win a championship and we fell short. I am incredibly proud of this team. Everyone gave it everything they had on the court today. Give Georgia credit, they made the plays they needed to win."

The Bulldogs took the early advantage by winning a tight doubles point. Georgia took the early advantage as Jamie Hunt and Nate Schnugg defeated Ted Angelinos (Athens, Greece) and Marko Miklo (Bratislava, Slovakia) 8-3 at the No. 3 position. Virginia drew even at No. 2 doubles, where Houston Barrick (Brentwood, Tenn.) and Dominic Inglot (London, England) downed No. 16 Travis Helgeson and Matic Omerzel 8-6. It was the second win of the season against the Bulldog team as they finished the season with a 27-6 dual match record at the position. The opening point then came down to matchup at No. 1 doubles between the nation's top two ranked teams. No. 1 ranked John Isner and Luis Flores were up 7-5 with Isner serving for the match, but the No. 2 ranked Cavalier duo of Somdev Devvarman (Chennai, India) and Treat Huey (Alexandria, Va.) broke to get back on serve. Both teams held in the next three games to force a tiebreaker. Isner and Flores won the tiebreaker 7-3, sealing the match on their sixth match point of the contest to give Georgia 1-0 lead.

"We haven't lost a match when we won the doubles match," Boland said. "That says a lot about our team. We still had a great chance to win after doubles, because we thought we could win four or more singles matches."

In singles, the teams battled early on with each team taking three close first sets. Georgia extended its lead to 2-0 as No. 35 Matic Omerzel defeated Miklo 6-2, 6-3 at No. 4 singles. It was the final match of Miklo's career, as he ranks in a tie for eighth in school history with 86 singles wins.

The Georgia advantage increased to 3-0, as Helgeson defeated Inglot 6-4, 6-4 at No. 3 singles. Virginia cut the advantage to 3-1 as No. 2 Devvarman downed No. 1 Isner at No. 1 singles in a battle of the nation's top two ranked players. The win was Devvarman's 38th singles win of the season, bringing him within two of Brian Vahaly's single season school record of 40 set in 2001. That season, Vahaly reached the finals of the NCAA Singles Championship on the very same courts in Georgia. The loss was just Isner's second dual match loss in the past two seasons.

"I was pretty pumped to play today," Devvarman said. "John has been one of the best players in college tennis in a long time. Today, he had a bad day and I had a good day. I'd rather take the (singles) loss and have the team win."

Moments later, No. 95 Nate Schnugg rallied from losing the first set to defeat Barrick 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 at No. 5 singles to clinch the win for Georgia.

The Cavaliers end the season with a 30-4 record, marking the first 30-win season in school history. Their run to the semifinals of the NCAA Tournament marked the first time that an ACC school had ever reached the semifinals. With the loss on Monday, Virginia had its 16-match consecutive win streak snapped. That streak had tied the school record set in 2005.

"We are excited about the future," said Boland. "We only lose one guy, but we have to wait a whole year to play again. That's a long time to wait."

Devvarman and Huey will return to action on Wednesday as the NCAA Singles Championship begins at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex. Devvarman, the 2006 NCAA Runner-Up, will be the bracket's No. 2 seed. Devvarman and Huey will also be the No. 2 seed in the NCAA Doubles Championship, which begins Thursday in Athens.

 

Tech story hit close to home for Barber
The football star-turned-journalist returned to Southwest Virginia for his first time in four years.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

Tiki Barber could have spent a career in broadcast journalism and hardly been prepared for the event that punctuated and punctured his first day on the "Today" show.

Barber, an All-Pro running back for the New York Giants before a surprise fall retirement, was on the set April 16 for his formal "Today" show introduction and followed that with a workout.

"When I came out of the gym, they told me that my assignment for the next day was canceled because of the Virginia Tech story, and I said, 'I have to go,' " Barber said.

Keep in mind, Barber is a well-known graduate of the University of Virginia -- Virginia Tech's biggest rival. On the UVa Web site there's a video titled "Tiki Barber's University."

However, Barber also has a rich Virginia Tech heritage. His mother graduated from there. His dad was a Hokies running back.

The Barber twins, Tiki and Ronde, were born at Montgomery Regional Hospital. That's the same facility that treated Virginia Tech students wounded in an April 16 shooting spree that left 33 dead.

"It was home for me," Barber said. "I grew up down that way. I spent a lot of my early childhood down there. We'd go back for games. My mother knew a lot of people there."

As he flew into Roanoke on the night of April 16, Barber realized that he hadn't been back to Southwest Virginia for four years.

"I hadn't been there since my mom left," said Barber, whose mother, Geraldine, now works outside Washington, D.C. "I went into the Roanoke airport, and everybody knows me there. It wasn't a good occasion to be going home."

Barber had called his mother to find out what she knew. His aunt -- Geraldine's sister, Sharon Brickhouse Martin -- is on an advisory panel that helps identify minority prospects for Tech's engineering school.

"We reached out to her," Barber said, "but it didn't lead to anything. There was too much chaos going on."

In the 48 hours he was in Blacksburg, Barber was involved in two stories, one on the school community and one on the Blacksburg community.

"It was weird," he said. "To the students, it was like I belonged there, even though I went to the rival school. They appreciated that I was there."

One of the students with whom Barber spoke was Derek O'Dell, a 2005 graduate of Cave Spring High School, the Barber twins' alma mater.

"When I went out in the community, that was a little bit tougher because a lot of the merchants have family that work at the university," Barber said. "At one of the places we went, [the proprietor] wouldn't talk to us because it was too close for him. His wife's boss, I think, was one of the professors who was killed.

"It was tough talking to the adults. It seemed like a lot of the kids were in shock and didn't know how to respond. The adults were more aware of the gravity of it."

Barber's next notable "Today" show appearance came May 4. He showed up in Cape Town, South Africa, as part of the feature "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?"

After some friendly banter with the "Today" co-host, Barber donned a wet suit and entered a cage in anticipation of a visit from a great white shark.

"I was in the cage for 40 minutes or so," Barber said. "It was a while. It was probably a 10-foot cage, and about 3 feet was out of the water. You can use a breathing device if you want to, but I just held my breath. They bait the shark in, and then, when it gets close, you just dive down and it's right there in front of you.

"Leading up to it, I was nervous. You're in the middle of the ocean, the Indian Ocean, and people are shouting, 'Oh, my God, there's the shark.' Once I got the nerve to get in the water and the tank, everything went away, and I was completely calm. The only sense I used was sight."

While making plane connections in London, Barber lost his luggage, prompting an MSNBC.com blog from producer Sean Reis that opened, "I bought Tiki Barber underwear."

The segment generated considerable online traffic, including a predictable post by "Noel" from Mitchell, S.D.

"Tiki, forget all the traveling and stress," it read. "Minicamps start in two weeks."

Giants fans may still hope Barber is experiencing withdrawal symptoms. After 10 seasons, he left the NFL at the top of his career. Maybe he misses it.

"Absolutely not one iota," said Barber, 32. "It's funny. I talked to my brother [in Tampa Bay], and he said, 'It's so hot down here; I'm sweating my ass off. I'm working out two times a day, sometimes three times a day.' I told him, 'Hey, I feel bad for you, but I'm done.' "

They still communicate regularly, although Tiki could not tell either his mother or his brother his destination before the trip to Cape Town.

He also has been to Buffalo, N.Y., for a story on the first all-female entry in the National Science Bowl and to Atlanta to interview members of the Fugees, a soccer program made up entirely of refugees and coached by a Jordanian woman.

"I had been told that she was very strong-minded and focused, and there were a lot of things we had to do with her," Barber said, "but, when we were done, she told me, 'I just felt at ease talking to you.' I don't think she knew who I was, but her kids did."

No introductions were required in Blacksburg, where Barber's contributions to the overall coverage were minimal, although the memories will stick with him forever.

"It was an unbelievable experience, a learning experience," he said. "Anybody who was anybody in the industry was there, and for the most part I got to watch. I talked to the cameramen and the people who run those big trucks, and they said they'd never seen a staging ground like that."

He doesn't know if this will be a defining moment in his career as a broadcaster, "but it's a definitive moment," he said. "That's for sure."
 

Three Cavaliers honored
Virginia's Doolittle, Guyer and Thompson named to first team
Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 12:06 AM

The University of Virginia placed three baseball players on the all-ACC first team announced yesterday: juniors Sean Doolittle and Brandon Guyer and sopho- more Jacob Thompson.

Doolittle, the ACC player of the year in 2006, pitches and plays first base for U.Va., No. 8 nationally in the latest Baseball America rankings. Doolittle is hitting .318 with seven home runs, and he's 7-3 on the mound with a 2.63 earned-run average.

Guyer, an outfielder, is hitting .376 with seven homers and 46 RBI. Thompson, a right-handed pitcher, is 10-0 with a 1.46 ERA.

The all-ACC second team includes two Cavaliers: sophomore second baseman David Adams and senior closer Casey Lambert. The five all-ACC selections are a record for U.Va. No one from Virginia Tech was named to either team.

The league's 12 coaches vote on postseason honors, and they chose Florida State junior second baseman Tony Thomas as ACC player of the year.

Another Seminole, senior Bryan Henry, was named ACC pitcher of the year. FSU's Mike Martin was his peers' choice as the conference's coach of the year. The ACC's top freshman is North Carolina first baseman Dustin Ackley.

The ACC tournament begins tomorrow in Jacksonville, Fla. - Jeff White

 

Cavaliers bounced out by Bulldogs
Unbeaten Georgia to play Illinois for men's national tennis title
Tuesday, May 22, 2007 - 12:06 AM

ATHENS, Ga. - Unbeaten Georgia advanced to the final of the NCAA men's tennis championships for the second consecutive season, eliminating fourth-seeded Virginia 4-1 yesterday.

The Bulldogs (31-0) will play 10th-seed Illinois (23-8), a 4-3 winner over Baylor (28-4), trying for their fifth national title.

"We are obviously disappointed with the outcome," said Virginia head coach Brian Boland, "We came here to win a championship and we fell short. I am incredibly proud of this team. Everyone gave it everything they had on the court today. Give Georgia credit, they made the plays they needed to win."

Freshman Nate Schnugg clinched Monday's win over Virginia with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 comeback win over Houston Barrick.

"People who say that kind of stuff haven't been watching our matches," Georgia coach Manuel Diaz said. "We have had to play some great tennis. Our match against UCLA two nights ago was one of the great matches in tennis. It is not like we are walking over everybody."

Georgia struggled to win two of three doubles matches and take the team point. The Bulldogs tandem of John Isner and Luis Flores, the nation's top-ranked doubles team, outlasted Virginia's Somdev Devvarman and Treat Huey 9-8 (8-6). The Cavaliers duo is ranked second in the country.

"We haven't lost a match when we won the doubles match," Boland said. "That says a lot about our team. We still had a great chance to win after doubles, because we thought we could win four or more singles matches."

Virginia's Devvarman, NCAA singles runner-up a year ago and the nation's second-ranked player, defeated Isner, the country's top-ranked player, 6-4, 6-4 at No. 1 singles, but that was Virginia's only point.

The win was Devvarman's 38th singles win of the season, bringing him within two of Brian Vahaly's single season school record of 40 set in 2001.

That season, Vahaly reached the finals of the NCAA singles championship on the very same courts in Georgia. The loss was just Isner's second dual match loss in the past two seasons.

"I was pretty pumped to play today," Devvarman said. "John has been one of the best players in college tennis in a long time. Today, he had a bad day and I had a good day. I'd rather take the [singles] loss and have the team win."

In singles, the teams battled early on with each team taking three close first sets. Georgia extended its lead to 2-0 as Matic Omerzel defeated Marko Miklo 6-2, 6-3 at No. 4 singles. It was the final match of Miklo's career, as he ranks in a tie for eighth in school history with 86 singles wins.

The Cavaliers end the season with a 30-4 record, marking the first 30-win season in school history. Their run to the semifinals of the NCAA tournament marked the first time that an ACC school had ever reached the semifinals.

With the loss on Monday, Virginia had its 16-match consecutive win streak snapped. That streak had tied the school record set in 2005.

"We came here to win, and I am very disappointed," Boland said. "We only lose one player, so I think we will be back, but we have to wait a whole year."

Illinois won the 2003 team title, the last time the tournament was played on the Georgia campus.

 

U.Va.'s tennis title hopes end
Despite a big victory by Somdev Devvarman, the Cavaliers fall to No. 1 Georgia in an NCAA tennis semifinal.
BY SAM STEINBERG/CORRESPONDENT
May 22, 2007

ATHENS, GA. -- Virginia's Somdev Devvarman took down the top-ranked singles player in the country, but it was not enough to stop Georgia from ending the Cavaliers' hopes of an NCAA men's tennis championship.

Devvarman beat John Isner 6-4, 6-4 Monday, but his team fell 4-1 to the No. 1 Georgia Bulldogs in a national semifinal.

"I'd rather take the loss and have the team win," said Devvarman, ranked second. Georgia (31-0) moves on to play 10th-seeded Illinois (24-8) for the championship at 3 p.m. today at Henry Feild Stadium. Illinois upended No. 3 Baylor 4-3.

The Atlantic Coast Conference champion Cavaliers ended the season with a 30-4 record and were the first ACC team to reach the semifinals in tournament history.

"We've got to wait a whole another year. It is a long time," said Virginia coach Brian Boland. "We were disappointed with the outcome, obviously. We came here to win a championship and it didn't happen."

The afternoon started with a hotly contested doubles point. After the teams split on Courts 2 and 3, the doubles point came down to winner between Georgia's No. 1-ranked pair of John Isner and Luis Flores and Virginia's No. 2 duo of Devvarman and Treat Huey.

The Virginia duo was down 7-4 and saved five match points to bring the match to 8-all, forcing a tiebreaker. But Devvarman and Huey were unable to hold serve and lost 7-3.

"Our feeling was that having won the doubles point, it put a lot of pressure on Virginia's squad," said Georgia coach Manuel Diaz.

Losing the doubles point was foreshadowing what was to come. The Cavaliers' only team losses of the season came when they lost the doubles.

"I still felt like we had a really good chance to win the match after doubles," Boland said. "I think the doubles would have still given us a lot of momentum, but we really believed that we could get four points."

Singles action was tight, with the teams splitting the first sets on the six courts. Georgia made it 2-0 when Matic Omerzel defeated Marko Miklo 6-2, 6-3 at the third spot. No. 12 Travis Helgeson followed up by taking care of Virginia's Dominic Inglot 6-4, 6-4 on Court 3.

Georgia clinched the match when No. 95 Nate Schnugg outlasted Houston Barrick 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 at fifth singles. Devvarman's victory over the 6-foot-9 Isner came just before the clincher.

Isner is considered by many to have the fastest serve in college tennis, at over 130 mph.

"I was definitely guessing. I was taking my chances either one side or another," Devvarman said. "I had to. I figured if I had to react, I would not have had enough time."

Devvarman and Huey will stay in Athens to compete in the singles and doubles tournaments, which begin Wednesday and Thursday, respectively.
 

Vick's former prep coach says QB is 'hurting'
Reamon: Media coverage 'assassinating' his former player
By D. ORLANDO LEDBETTER
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/21/07

Tommy Reamon, Michael Vick's high school coach, has visited Atlanta and talked with his "hurting" former pupil since a dogfighting investigation at the property the Falcons quarterback owns in Virginia.

"He is hurting and hoping that this process will take care of itself as soon as possible," Reamon said in a telephone interview Monday.

Reamon coached Vick at Warwick High School in Newport News, Va. and also coached his cousin Aaron Brooks, another NFL quarterback, at Ferguson High. He attended the Falcons recent minicamp in Flowery Branch.

At the minicamp, Vick did not answer questions about the investigation on the advice of his attorney. Vick previously blamed his problems on relatives.

"If I can quote one thing that is so powerful about Michael Vick today, is that he is making those immediate changes in his life and his environment," Reamon said. "He is doing it at this present time, as we speak.

"He is doing those things that we all know need to be done. However, the fascination of the media continues and nobody sees him making these changes. He's doing what he has to do and God bless him.

"But he's hurting."

Reamon expects Vick to be cleared of the dogfighting allegations.

"He will be cleared on this mess," Reamon said. "There's no question."

The media coverage has been troubling to Reamon and those close to Vick.

"They want the worst for the young man and I'm so saddened for him," Reamon said. "But he is working to improve his life and get through this adversity. He is doing everything that he can do with the support of the Atlanta Falcons administration. They have given him support.

"He is changing the things he's got to do right now. But the assassination in the media is continuing as they talk about things. In America, it's about innocence until proven guilty."

Reamon now coaches at Gloucester High but has remained close to Vick and his family.

"Michael Vick is hurting," Reamon said. "He wants to get this straight and move on because he's a football player. Stop assassinating him and let the process take care of itself. He's innocent until proven guilty. But he is taking care of the things in his private life, right now. I know that."

 

Link to Vick in evidence seizure
Envelopes found addressed to him
By STEVE WYCHE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 05/22/07

Three envelopes addressed to "M. Vick" were among evidence seized by police under the authority of a search warrant executed on the Virginia property owned by Falcons quarterback Michael Vick, according to documents obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Also seized in the search, authorized in late April in relation to organized dogfighting, was a black 3-ring binder containing "contracts" or copies of contracts.

According to the warrant, police were searching for and could seize "information related to dogfighting, registration papers, other written materials showing ownership of pit bull terrier dogs or other fighting dogs including bills of sale, pedigrees, breeding records and veterinary records; any dogfighting records including name and telephone numbers lists of person suspected of being dog fighters."

The contents, if any, of the envelopes and the nature of the contracts were not indicated in the documents. Vick's company, MV7 LLC, runs a company that breeds and sells pit bulls and presa canario dogs.

Copies of the search warrant, affidavit and the inventory list of evidence collected by the Surry County (Va.) Sheriff's department were obtained by the AJC in a records request filed under the Freedom of Information Act. The information was received by the AJC on the same day that the prosecutor, law enforcement officials, investigators and a member of the U.S. Department of Agriculture met for two hours to review the evidence in the month-old case. The USDA's presence was the first time a federal agency was confirmed to be involved in the investigation.

All representatives at the meeting declined comment, but commonwealth attorney Gerald Poindexter and Sheriff Harold Brown issued a joint statement saying: "At this time, the investigation continues. We have no further comment."

Poindexter said last week that it appears dogfighting did take place in a room inside the two-story house on the property, but it could take several weeks to determine whether charges would be filed and against whom. At least six people could be involved, Poindexter said. A review of evidence will determine if Vick is among those being targeted, Poindexter said.

"I'm never there. I'm never at the house," Vick said before the NFL draft April 28. "I left the house with my family members and my cousin. They just haven't been doing the right thing. The issue will get resolved. It's unfortunate I have to take the heat behind it. If I'm not there, I don't know what's going on."

Poindexter has said there is proof Vick has visited the property.

Vick has since declined to comment on the investigation. He did so again Monday night at a Falcons function at the Fox Theatre. His attorney, Lawrence Woodward, has not returned repeated messages.

The complete list of items seized from Vick's property also included: Cat mill, Jenny mills, carpet mill/stand, treadmills/electric/modified for dogs (all used for conditioning dogs to fight), a rape stand (used for breeding), assorted dietary supplements, weight pull harness, three wooden slat mills, all animals/breeder certification and kennel documents, four stainless kennels, dog food, chains and collars, assorted medicines and a weight scale.

Among the nearly 70 dogs discovered at the property, where police were called initially in a drug investigation involving Vick's cousin Davon Boddie, were five dogs with scars and other injuries. According to the affidavit, three heavily scarred pit bulls were seized: "The scars were distributed over the faces, head, ears, chest and front legs of the dogs."

One dog with old scarring and recent lacerations on the chest and front legs was discovered and in need of immediate veterinary care. According to the documents: "The dog also had what appears to be an injury to the front leg causing swelling and the leg to bend at an unnatural angle." One dog had old scarring and recent lacerations on the chest and front legs that "required medical aid to prevent suffering."

Documents indicate Surry County animal control officer James Smith recently completed a basic animal control academy which included a class on dogfighting investigation. He called in Kathy Strouse of the Virginia Animal Control Association to help with the investigation. Strouse, who was invited to but did not attend Monday's meeting to review the evidence, told the AJC last week: "Let me be very, very clear: There's no doubt in my mind that this was a dogfighting operation."

According to the documents, when Smith was called to Vick's property by state police he found: "Multiple pit bull type dogs, some in kennels and approximately 30 tethered on heavy logging type chains. The dogs are tethered so as to allow them to come in close proximity to each other but not have contact with each other. The chains are attached to car axles that are buried in the ground. In this officer's training and experience, this method of restraint is consistent with the restraint of fighting dogs."

The care of the dogs was also questioned in the affidavit. "The majority of the dogs either had no water or very dirty water in bowls that were coated with a green slimy substance consistent in appearance with algae," Smith wrote.

The negative glare this has caused is wearing on Vick, according to his high school coach, Tommy Reamon.

"He is hurting and hoping that this process will take care of itself as soon as possible," Reamon, who coached Vick at Warwick High in Newport News, said in a telephone interview Monday. "He is doing those things that we all know need to be done. However, the fascination of the media continues, and nobody sees him making these changes. He's doing what he has to do, and God bless him."

— D. Orlando Ledbetter and Chris Vivlamore contributed to this report.