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Monday Motivation: March 2

Baseball refuses to lose, and basketball won't stop winning.

By Caroline Darney
Amber Searls-USA TODAY Sports

It's officially March, so everything is going to be madness from here on out.

Rapid Fire

- For the second time this season, former Virginia tennis great Dom Inglot (and his partner Florin Mergea) defeated the Bryan brothers. This time, the victory came in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Duty Free Championships. The match was hard-fought with Dom and Florin winning via 7-6, 2-6, 10-8. Congrats, Dom!!

- Despite the loss at Syracuse, second year lacrosse goalie Matt Barrett had a career high 20 saves against the potent Orange attack. The Hoos are now No.8 in the Cascade/Maverik Media Poll and will host No.7 Cornell Saturday at 1pm in Charlottesville.

- No.5 Women's Tennis racked up two 6-1 victories this week over ACC foes Pitt and Notre Dame. Against the Panthers, Virginia won the doubles point and five of six singles matches. Against ND, the Hoos swept all of the singles points after dropping the opening doubles point. Next up, Virginia hosts FSU and GW at the Snyder Tennis Center on Grounds at 11am on March 8.

- The Men's Track and Field team finished third at the ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships, tying the program's best finish. Fourth year Payton Hazzard won an individual championship in the 400m race, finishing with a time of 46.62 (WHAAAT THAT IS FAST!!). Second year Filip Mihaljevic won his second career individual ACC title, placing first in the shot put while fellow Wahoo Jordan Young finished in second place behind him.

- Men's Baseball continued their "it's entirely too cold/snowy to play in Charlottesville even though this is a spring sport" tour, playing three games in Myrtle Beach, SC. They swept the weekend, winning 5-1 over Hartford, 4-1 over Seton Hall, and 5-4 over Cornell. The Hoos are now 10-0 on the season. Pavin Smith leads Virginia with 21 hits, Matt Thaiss has four home runs already, and starters Nathan Kirby and Connor Jones have ERAs of 0.49 and 0.56, respectively. Virginia's game on Tuesday against VMI has been postponed to 3pm Wednesday and will be the home opener for the Hoos. SPRING SPORT!

- No.8 Women's Lacrosse eked out a close one against No.9 Penn State on a goal from Casey Bocklet with just four seconds remaining in the game. Courtney Swan led all scorers with four goals and four assists, Liza Blue added three goals and two assists of her own, and Bocklet finished the game with two goals and one dish. Virginia hosts Harvard Tuesday in the home opener. Game starts at 2:30.

HOO-mongous Wins

The Virginia Basketball teams had a great week with the men picking up two victories and the ladies notching a top-10 win.

Tony Bennett's squad headed to Winston-Salem and the nightmare haunting Joel Coliseum...and handily embarrassed a Wake squad that just a few days before had a chance to pull off the upset bid in Charlottesville. Virginia was down Justin Anderson and London Perrantes for the game, but you never would have known based on the box score. The Hoos scored 70 against the Deacs, but no one player had more than 11 points (Anthony Gill), and only two scored in double digits (Darion Atkins had 10).

Wake Forest scored just 15 points in the first half, and Virginia would have won if they didn't score a single point in the second half. The Deacons were held to 21.8% shooting for the game, and they never really had a chance.

The best moment of the game, however, had to be when fourth year walk-on Maleek Frazier scored his first career points as a Wahoo, leading to everyone's new favorite: Giddy Tony Bennett.

Everyone loved it.

Next up, the Hoos clinched at least a share of first place in the ACC with a win over in-commonwealth rival Virginia Tech, 69-57. Darion Atkins did his Senior Night proud, going off for an incredible 16 points, six rebounds, three assists, two steals, and two blocks. Mr. Do-It-All finished his career in JPJ with two back-to-back dunks, one of which earned him a technical, which he loved.

"We don't like Tech and I'm glad I got a tech. It was a spicy ending...you can quote me on that."

Spicy indeed, but the victory was mostly sweet as it ensured the Hoos they would defend their regular season title from last season. Perrantes returned with a vengeance, going a perfect 4-4 from the field and 3-3 from three point land. He showed his toughness as he ditched his face mask for the second half after re-breaking his nose in a hustle play on the floor.

Malcolm Brogdon scored 19 in the game, and Anthony Gill and DA each added 16. With the win, Virginia now leads the Virginia529 Commonwealth Clash 7.5-2.5.

From all of us here at Streaking the Lawn, thank you Darion, Rob, and Maleek for your hard work and dedication to this program!!

Check out this heartfelt statement from Coach Bennett following the win on what this team has accomplished:

(yes, his tie has V-sabers all over it)

In the biggest win of the week, however, the Women's Basketball team took down No.8 Louisville on Senior Day to the tune of 75-59. Faith Randolph scored 23 points for the Hoos, Sarah Imovbioh was right behind her with 22, and lone senior Sarah Beth Barnette grabbed two rebounds.

Virginia was clicking on all cylinders, coming together just in time for the ACC tournament in which the Hoos are the nine seed and will play either Pitt or Miami on Thursday.

Now, go watch this on repeat and get ready for tonight's Men's game at the Carrier Dome where the Hoos can clinch the outright top spot in the ACC. Game is 7pm on ESPN. Go Hoos!

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