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Women's Tennis
When we last left our heroes...
The women's tennis team completed their best season ever in 2014, reaching the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history. That accomplishment was topped by then-sophomore Danielle Collins upsetting her way through the field in the NCAA Singles Tournament to claim Virginia's first national title.
Expectations for This Year
The women's team returned the bulk of their roster and added transfer Skylar Morton from UCLA, a Maryland native who exited high school as the #2 recruit in the country. With the 1-2 punch of Julia Elbaba and Collins at the top of the lineup, it appeared that the women's team finally had the firepower to compete with top teams and potentially take the next step and compete for a national title.
How's It Going
The team is currently 15-4 overall, and 8-2 in the ACC.
Things were going just fine until the middle of March. The women's first setback was a deceptive 6-1 loss at Baylor in which Virginia only fielded four players (a complete lineup is six) because of illnesses. A 4-1 loss to #6 Florida at the Boar's Head was a lot closer than the score indicated. Then, the team lost a pair of head scratchers to then #24 Duke and #16 Miami, and have fallen all the way to #12 in the country. Dropping any further could put the team in jeopardy of having to go on the road in the NCAA Tournament's first and second round, and road teams rarely advance to the Round of 16.
What's Next
The biggest opportunity for the team comes this Friday, when they travel to #2 North Carolina. UNC is unbeaten and loaded, but they present the best chance left on the schedule for UVA to grab a quality win and leap up the rankings prior to the ACC tournament.
Men's Tennis
When we last left our heroes...
The men's tennis team came up short of defending their national title in 2014, falling to the bane of Virginia Men's Tennis' existence, Southern Cal in the semi-finals of the NCAA Tournament. The team was eliminated quickly and quietly in uncharacteristic fashion from the singles and doubles tournaments, and ended up with their lowest year-end ranking since 2006 - #4.
Expectations for This Year
When a team has made the national semi-finals five years in a row, replaces 2 seniors with a pair of highly regarded freshmen and a year end ranking of #4 could conceivably be called a bad year, there's only one reasonable goal - win the whole thing.
How's It Going
The team is 16-3 overall and 8-0 in conference.
In spite of having three losses, the men's season has been a good one so far. The losses are to the #1 and #2 teams in the nation (Oklahoma and Baylor, respectively) on their home courts, and Baylor again on a "neutral" court in Texas. The team's 123 match ACC win streak entering the season has been extended to 132 without much trouble.
What's Next
The remaining regular season opponents should offer little resistance, so the next challenge for the men's team will probably come in the ACC semifinals and finals, where they might see some combination of Virginia Tech, Duke and Wake Forest; all Top 20 teams. At this point, the main concern is the team's national rank (#4) and how it might impact their seeding in the NCAA Tournament. The #4 spot would mean a likely matchup with the #5 team in the quarterfinals.
Guess who is #5 right now? Southern Cal.