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Women's Tennis
When we last left our heroes...
The women's tennis team dealt North Carolina their first loss of the season in the ACC semifinals, and then defeated Georgia Tech for the second time in two weeks to claim their second straight ACC tournament title.
What's Next?
The women's team opens NCAA tournament play on Saturday, May 9th against Virginia Commonwealth at noon at the Snyder Tennis Courts. The Hoos beat the Rams 6-1 back in January in their first match of the season. A win would set up a second round match on Sunday, May 10th at 12:00 pm against the winner of South Carolina and Princeton.
The women's team are hosting first and second round matches for the sixth straight year, by virtue of being seeded #9 in the field of 64.
Tournament Outlook
The NCAA Tournament is being hosted in Waco, Texas this year, which will give home court advantage to the Baylor tennis teams. Oh, hey, who would the Hoos probably face in Waco in the third round should they advance on their home courts? Yep, Baylor. Beat the Lady Bears on their home court, and most likely #1 Southern Cal awaits.
This is a Virginia team, however, that has shown that it is capable of beating any other team in the country. Both the Southern Cal women and the #2 seeded North Carolina Tar Heels have losses to Virginia. The women came out of the ACC Tournament firing on all cylinders. This team can absolutely threaten for the title, but they have drawn a hard road.
Men's Tennis
When we last left our heroes...
The men's team beat a feisty Wake Forest team to claim their ninth straight ACC tournament title, and run their ACC win streak to 139 straight matches.
What's Next?
The men will play in the first round of the NCAA tournament against St. John's (NY) at 1:00 pm on Friday at the Snyder Tennis Courts. Their second round opponent (yes, Virginia will win their opener, guaranteed) will be the winner of the match between Minnesota and Princeton. Really, NCAA? Of all the schools' athletic travel budgets you're watching out for, Princeton?
Tournament Outlook
The men's team's win in the ACC tournament helped vault them to the #3 seed overall in the NCAA tournament. As mentioned above, the favorites in this year's tournament would be the #1 seed Oklahoma and #2 seed (and host) Baylor. Virginia's draw would put them in a likely third round match against #14 seed Mississippi, and a probable quarterfinal against SEC champion and #6 seed Texas A&M. The Aggies will be a tough test in their home state.
The good news is that a potential match up with perennial Hoo kryptonite Southern Cal could not come until the semifinals, and only if the Trojans knock off Baylor.