Top-ranked Cavs hungry for another national title
Friday, May 16, 2008 - 12:06 AM

U.VA. VS. MICHIGAN

Today:1 p.m.
Where:Tulsa, Okla.
By JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

One is not enough for the University of Virginia men's tennis team. It's been a glorious season for the Cavaliers, but they won't be satisfied unless they win a second national championship.

In February, U.Va. traveled to Seattle for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association's national indoors tournament. Four victories later, the Wahoos were champions. Now they're looking to wear the NCAA crown.

Top-seeded Virginia (30-0) is one of 16 teams left in the NCAA tournament. The Cavaliers meet Michigan -- a team they whipped 5-2 in early February -- in the third round today at 1 p.m. at Tulsa, Okla.

The NCAA team quarterfinals are scheduled for Sunday, the semifinals for Monday and the final for Tuesday in Tulsa.

The Cavaliers opened the tournament by disposing of Fairleigh Dickinson and then Penn State last weekend in Charlottesville.

"I feel we're all peaking at the right time," said Ted Angelinos, one of three seniors in seventh-year coach Brian Boland's lineup.

This is U.Va.'s fifth straight trip to the 64-team NCAA tourney's third round. In 2005 and '06, the Wahoos advanced to the quarterfinals before being eliminated. A year ago, they lost to Georgia in the semifinals.

"Probably a little difference this year is, we've got a little more confidence," said Treat Huey, who plays No. 2 singles for Virginia. "We've played the other teams in the country and beaten them before, so we know we can do it again."

Angelinos said: "We've played most of the [other] top-10 teams. We've had some close wins and we've had some tough wins, and that's prepared us for this tournament."

Seniors Huey, Angelinos and, of course, Somdev Devvarman form the heart of a team that was expected to be a force and has lived up to expectations. The Cavaliers have been ranked No. 1 all season, and they have the top-ranked singles player (reigning NCAA champion Devvarman) and the top-ranked doubles team (Devvarman and Huey).

"I've never brought a team to the Sweet Sixteen and felt as good as I do today," Boland said this week in Charlottesville.

This team, he said, has "the edge that a lot of teams haven't had in the past, in terms of that experience, an unbelievable chemistry and leadership I can only dream of as a coach."

The NCAA tournament, weather permitting, is played outdoors. Still, Boland said, the ITA indoors title "gives us a great deal of confidence, and certainly I think we've only built on that confidence as the year went on."

Its perfect record notwithstanding, U.Va. occasionally struggled during the regular season. The Cavaliers edged Illinois 4-3 on Jan. 25, Kentucky 4-3 on Feb. 8 and UCLA 4-3 on Feb. 16 in the ITA indoors tournament.

"We didn't play particularly well at certain points of the season," Boland said. "We weren't as healthy as we needed to be, and we really are where we need to be now. We're really healthy, we're feeling good, our confidence is there, and now we just need to go play and enjoy it."


 

A purposeful return
By Whitey Reid
Published: May 15, 2008

On many Monday nights, at an eatery on the Corner, you can find Virginia senior Somdev Devvarman playing his guitar and singing the songs of his favorite band.
“I love music and I love the Dave Matthews Band,” Devvarman said.
“I have a couple of my own tunes and my own lyrics, which I put my own philosophies into. But I’m not sure they’re ready to come out yet. They’re still rough. I’m still working on them.”
You might say that Devvarman’s musical talents aren’t quite on par with his tennis abilities.
That, of course, would be an extremely tall order.
What Devvarman has done on the tennis court for the University of Virginia since stepping foot on campus nearly four years ago is almost akin to what the Charlottesville-rooted Dave Matthews Band has accomplished in the world of music.
Last season, Devvarman became the first ACC player to ever win the NCAA Tournament singles title.
In the fall, he won an ITA National Indoor title.
This season, the India native has been ranked No. 1 throughout and is undefeated.
But Devvarman’s domination is only a small part of what makes him so special, according to Virginia coach Brian Boland.
“Somdev’s a great player, but an even better person,” Boland said. “In the end, I think that only helps his tennis in how he approaches everything both on and off the court. He has tremendous perspective, is mature beyond his years and is a natural leader.
“He’s the kind of person that everybody want to be around. He’s just a happy person and really sets the tone for the team. He’s contagious. You can’t replace Somdev Devvarman.”
This afternoon in Tulsa, Okla., Devvarman and No. 1-seeded and undefeated Virginia (30-0) play Michigan in the NCAA Tournament’s Round of 16. If UVa can get by the 16th-seeded Wolverines (20-6), it would play the Tennessee-Baylor winner in the quarterfinals on Sunday.
The finals of the tournament, which will be broadcast on ESPNU, are set for Tuesday night.
When Devvarman talks about trying to lead Virginia to its first NCAA title, there is a palpable intensity in his voice that can only come from a guy whose team was eliminated in the semifinals of last season’s tournament.
“We want it as bad as we’ve wanted anything,” Devvarman said, “but as much as we want it, we know that the most important key to getting there is taking it one match at a time and not looking at the finish line.
“We have to look at the next step that is front of us, and right now that step is the Michigan Wolverines.”
In a regular-season meeting on Feb. 3, Michigan won the doubles point from Virginia before the Cavs prevailed, 5-2. “We’re going to try and change that this time,” Devvarman said.
Four years ago, college tennis wasn’t something Devvarman was remotely thinking about. The 5-foot-11, 160-pounder had his sights set on a pro career.
Until Boland came into the picture, that is.
“Brian kept pestering me,” Devvarman recalled. “He said, ‘College tennis might be something for you.’”
Devvarman decided to give it some thought. Eventually, he realized he could get a great education while playing competitive tennis in an atmosphere where he could focus on improving every day.
“It was a complete package,” Devvarman said. “Before I knew it, we had sealed the deal and I was coming in as a freshman. It seems like yesterday.”
Boland still has a vivid recollection of his in-home visit to Devvarman - albeit a somewhat nauseous one.
When Boland arrived in Chennai, India, Devvarman’s parents invited him over to dinner. You could say Boland’s digestive system wasn’t quite ready for the spicy Indian cuisine that the Devvarmans were serving up.
Boland found himself choking at several junctures.
“[Devvarman’s] mom asked me if I liked it,” Boland recalled. “I looked at it and said, ‘No’ and everybody started laughing.
“The desert was even worse than the meal…it looked like an egg. That being said, they were just a gracious and wonderful family. I knew right away that I had a guy who would have an impact in college tennis, but more importantly a good person.”
Devvarman was named ACC Freshman of the Year in 2004-05 and helped Virginia advance to the quarterfinals of the NCAAs.
As a sophomore, he posted a 31-13 record as UVa made it to the quarters again.
Last season, Devvarman went 44-5 and won the individuals at the NCAA Tournament after Virginia had been eliminated in the team semifinals.
As Devvarman spoke at the post-match press conference in Atlanta, he took almost no credit for his triumph. All he talked about was how thankful to his teammates and his coaches he was.
“He loves the university and being here with the whole team,” said Virginia senior Treat Huey. “He doesn’t act like he’s the best player in the country, which everybody knows he is.
“He’s just a great guy to have on the team. He’s just one of the guys.”
So much so that Huey and some of the team’s upperclassmen engage in some good-natured ribbing with Devvarman about his music.
“He thinks he’s pretty good at guitar and singing,” said Huey, smiling. “We all try and encourage him and say, ‘Oh yeah, you’re great. You play just like Dave Matthews.’ But he’s terrible. Nobody’s really told him. He’s not very good at all.”
“He thinks he’s an up-and-coming music star,” joked Virginia senior Ted Angelinos. “He needs to work on that.”
Luckily, Devvarman has a pretty good tutor - Boyd Tinsley, the violinist and backup singer from the Dave Matthews Band, who just so happens to live in Charlottesville.
Recently, Tinsley, an avid tennis fan, had the team over to his house. While there, Tinsley engaged in a jam session with Devvarman in his home studio.
“That was one of the coolest things I’ve ever down in my life,” said Devvarman, breaking into a wide smile.
However, you get the feeling that winning an NCAA title with his Virginia teammates would rank much higher.
Devvarman says winning the individual tournament last year was a great feeling, but it would pale in comparison to winning as a team.
“It’s just a whole different thing,” he said. “It will be something that you can share with your best friends and guys you’ve lived with four years and coaches you’ve been with for four years.
“These are people you are probably going to know the rest of your life. It would definitely mean a lot more.”

 

UVa ready for Maryland rematch
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: May 15, 2008

There’s a note that’s been sitting on Dom Starsia’s desk for almost two years, one of his keepsakes from the 2006 national lacrosse championship that Virginia won under his direction.
The note is from New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, congratulating Starsia and the Cavaliers on the great accomplishment. Belichick is a big lacrosse fan. In fact, he and UVa football coach Al Groh took in the game in Philadelphia, admiring the skills of the Cavalier players. Belichick’s son plays the sport at Rutgers.
It had to be a big thrill for Starsia and his players when Belichick came into the Virginia locker room after they knocked off Syracuse in the semifinals before going on to beat Massachusetts for the crown.
If that was exciting, just think of next weekend’s possibilities when the Patriots essentially host the national championships at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro. More than 35,000 tickets have already been sold and it should be another big day for the ever-growing sport.
But, first things first.
Foxboro isn’t really on Starsia’s mind. Not that he hasn’t thought about it, but there’s an obstacle the Cavaliers have to overcome in order to make it to the Final Four. The obstacle is Maryland, Virginia’s opponent in the NCAA quarterfinals this Saturday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis.
The high noon showdown between the Cavs and Terps will be the third meeting, the rubber match, and should be as rough-and-tumble a game as any fan could ask to see. Maryland won the first match and physically took it to the Cavaliers. Virginia made that a point of emphasis for the rematch and beat the Terps in the ACC semifinals here.
This time, the winner goes to the Final Four.
Maybe it’s because lacrosse season begins in the shadow of the NCAA Basketball Tournament, or maybe it’s because there may be more major colleges playing the game as a club sport because of the effects of Title IX. Whatever the reason, the sporting public - at least the part of it that pays attention to lacrosse - really doesn’t start paying attention until about now.
“In our sport there’s such a disproportionate amount of attention paid to the last 10 days of the season,” Starsia said Thursday. “For a program like ours and a couple of others that come to mind, it’s really important for us to be playing at this time of the year.”
Virginia is considered one of the perennial powers in the sport of lacrosse, along with Syracuse, Johns Hopkins, and arguably a few others. If those schools don’t make it to the Final Four almost every year, then it simply wasn’t a year to remember. Anything less just isn’t worth mentioning.
“I think you’re allowed to be content to get to the Final Four,” Starsia said. “That doesn’t mean that you’re done or satisfied completely. But it would be hard to suggest you haven’t had a good season if you reached that point at the end of a long year.”
That’s why last season was one Wahoo fans don’t care to remember. Coming off the 2006 national title, then losing in the first round in ’07 to Delaware on UVa’s own field just didn’t cut it.
Perhaps that created even more pressure on the veteran Virginia coach and the players last weekend when they hosted Maryland-Baltimore County, a better team than the Delaware squad that pulled off the upset a year ago. The Cavs outlasted UMBC in a dogfight to move on to the Maryland showdown this weekend.
“Somebody asked me how I felt after the UMBC game and frankly it was a relief,” Starsia said. “That was the word I would use.”
Now it’s the Terps that stand in the way of a level of contentment. Navy officials expect between 20,000 and 25,000 fans to jam their stadium on Saturday afternoon for the doubleheader (Navy and Johns Hopkins play in the second game).
“You win in the quarterfinals and you got to the Final Four and there’s a certain contentment that you’re going to keep playing until the final weekend,” Starsia said. “That’s quite meaningful.”
But it only whets the taste for more.
“You get that close and you want to win it all. Those opportunities are precious and you’ve got to try to take advantage of them when they happen,” Starsia said. “In our sport if you can play through the last weekend, I think you can feel you have accomplished something.”
If you don’t, you have to sit and chew on the loss and wait for another chance, just like the Cavaliers have done for the past year.
They didn’t like the taste.

 

Faceoff
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Nothing Cavalier about Virginia
While conducting interviews to collect information for a feature on Maryland senior defenseman Joe Cinosky (expected to be published in the print edition Friday), Virginia coach Dom Starsia graciously gave me a few minutes of his time.

His second-seeded Cavaliers -- who will meet the seventh-seeded Terps in a NCAA tournament quarterfinal on Saturday at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis -- survived an upset bid by UMBC on Sunday, and Starsia was well aware of how fortunate his team was to win, 10-9.

"When I was standing on the sidelines and it was 9-9 with five minutes to play, I was wishing for a breather," he said. "But having the luxury to look back on it, I think it was the best experience for us.

"I think we benefited a great deal from having been pushed to the limit the way that UMBC pushed us on Sunday," Starsia continued. "I think it kind of gets us back to game speed, it gets us back to team speed and back into the mindset of what's absolutely required to win games at this level and at this time of the year."

Starsia was pleased to see the productivity of his starting attack of senior Ben Rubeor and juniors Garrett Billings and Danny Glading. That trio scored nine of the team's 10 goals against UMBC, and Sunday was the first time the three players were healthy. (Rubeor has dealt with a knee injury, Billings a back injury and Glading a hamstring.)

"We ask a lot of those guys and put a lot of responsibility on their shoulders," Starsia said of his attack. "They're good kids and good players, and we expect them to respond in big moments. The question that might be better asked is what happened to our midfield. We expect a step-up there at the same time."

Saturday's meeting will be the third this season between the Cavaliers and Maryland. The Terps won the first contest, 13-7, on March 29, but Virginia got the equalizer in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, winning 11-8. How difficult will it be to beat a rival that seemingly knows your schemes and systems for a second time in one season?

"You just don't have the luxury of worrying about that," Starsia said. "One of us is going to have to do that. ... We're going to have to play our best game and deal with the hand that we've been dealt, and that's trying to beat Maryland for a second time."

 

Cavs hold on for win over Yellow Jackets
By Jay Jenkins
Published: May 15, 2008

In the first 16 starts of his collegiate career, most of which came last season, Matt Packer had never managed to retire a batter in the seventh inning.
That changed Thursday night at Davenport Field in what could easily have been Virginia’s most important contest to date.
Packer hurled a career-best seven innings, scattering just five hits against Georgia Tech’s potent offense, as Virginia won 4-2 in the opening game of the series.
With the No. 5 seed in the ACC Tournament hanging in the balance and Virginia’s NCAA Tournament chances yet to be solidified, the starter-turned-reliever-turned-starter calmly fanned seven Yellow Jacket batters and stranded four as he was given the nod to open a game for the first time in exactly a month.
“Actually, there is less pressure that can be put on you when you only know two days in advance that you are going to be starting,” Packer chuckled. “It was almost nice not knowing ahead of time.”
In opportunistic fashion, Virginia (36-17, 15-13 ACC) managed to provide enough offense for Packer (6-2) to earn his first win since April Fools’ Day.
After falling behind 1-0 when Georgia Tech scored in the fourth, the Cavaliers scratched back with a bunting exhibition fans failed to witness in Tuesday’s win over VMI. Phil Gosselin opened the bottom-half of the fourth with a single into center and advanced to third as the bases were loaded by back-to-back bunt singles from Franco Valdes and John Barr.
Virginia third baseman Tyler Cannon, mired in a slump that has brought his average down to .256 on the season, brought home Gosselin moments later with a sacrifice fly to right field.
“Getting that run back was amazing and we knew it was only a matter of time because we were putting pressure on them,” Packer said. “To give up a run and have your team come right back and score is huge.”
Given a new lease on the ballgame, Packer suddenly found a groove in the fifth and beyond, retiring nine of the last 10 batters he faced.
“I am not real sure what happened but after that run scored it was like I was back to the first inning almost,” said Packer, who credited his slider and change-up for his success. “Getting through the fifth inning was the hump for me, because usually in the fourth or fifth inning I start getting knocked around a little bit.
“Getting through the [sixth and seventh] today was the game for me.”
As Packer was cruising, Virginia responded offensively against Georgia Tech starter David Duncan in the sixth, a frame that also included two bunts - one for a hit from Barr and a sacrifice from Cannon.
But after plunking Greg Miclat with a pitch in the dirt, Duncan (7-3) appeared primed to escape the jam after he recorded the second out by fanning senior Patrick Wingfield.
Facing a 3-2 count and with two outs, however, Virginia second baseman David Adams blasted a grounder up the middle that pulled Georgia Tech shortstop Derek Dietrich to his left and allowed Miclat time to scamper into second. Left with only one play, Dietrich fired in time to get Adams at first, but his throw sailed past first baseman Tony Plagman and into the Yellow Jackets’ dugout. The error gave UVa a pair of unearned runs.
Virginia added a run in the seventh on a one-out RBI single from Barr.
Andrew Carraway, who was temporarily removed from the weekend rotation in favor of Packer, worked a perfect eighth, setting the stage for UVa closer Michael Schwimer.
The senior allowed his first extra-base hit of the season - a leadoff double to Luke Murton - and an earned run on a sacrifice fly, but escaped the inning by retiring the game’s final three batters for his 12th save of the season.
Virginia coach Brian O’Connor said the decision to start Packer against the left-handed heavy lineup for Georgia Tech was the suggestion of pitching coach Karl Kuhn.
“Boy, did it work out tonight,” O’Connor said. “Packer was in complete control of the game and Carraway came in and got some right-handed hitters out.
“It actually worked out perfect. We couldn’t have scripted it any better.”
Duncan, a 23rd-round draft of the Washington Nationals last year, allowed eight hits and four walks while striking out five and stranding 11 runners.
“Duncan is a good prospect that we have a lot of respect for,” O’Connor said. “He did a great job of pitching out of jams; we had a number of opportunities and we worked hard to get those opportunities and it showed how good Duncan is to be able to pitch out of it.”
The two teams are scheduled to play tonight at 6 p.m. as Virginia sends No. 1 starter Pat McAnaney, a lefty, to the mound. The Yellow Jackets are expected to counter with RHP Eddie Burns.