Charlottesville, VA (CvilleRightNow): There were several developments across the Charlottesville sports landscape last week that you need to be aware of, luckily, you are in the right place.  The winter sports season has entered conference play, playoff action has concluded in fall sports, and a large, anonymous gift has been bestowed upon the Virginia Football Program by an angel investor.  Here is your Wahoo Rundown for the week of December 9th. 

Last week began with a Wednesday evening tilt in the ACC-SEC challenge for the UVA Men’s Basketball team against one of the best teams in the nation, the #16 Florida Gators.  

“The Hoos entered the game as 16.5-point underdogs, however as the game began, they jumped out to a 9-point lead early in the game but then turnovers led to a 20-2 Florida run and the two teams traded baskets down the stretch in the first half.”   

Jay James full report on the Florida game can be found HERE. Needless to say, the result did not provide much momentum going into the Hoos ACC opener on Saturday against SMU.  Despite a great game from Isaac McKneely, who led the Hoos with 17 points including 12 from three-point range, the Mustangs owned the boards and made it count, while the Hoos continued to turn the ball over at alarming rates.  The home team outscored the Hoos in both halves on their way to a 63-51 victory beginning the ACC slate.  Going into the exam break, the Hoos will welcome a struggling Bethune-Cookman team on Thursday night who enters play 2-6 on the year.  Tip-off is at 7:00 PM, and you can listen to the game on Newsradio WINA.   

The Cavalier Women’s Basketball team also went into battle in the ACC-SEC Challenge last Thursday against the Auburn Tigers.   

“There were some positives to report [yesterday] for Virginia Women’s Basketball’s first performance in the ACC/SEC Challenge against Auburn. Regrettably, the score was not one of them, as the Hoos fell to the Tigers by nine points, 66-57.” 

My full report on the loss can be found HERE. The Hoos needed to start their ACC slate off right against Boston College a few days later on Sunday.  A win would snap their three-game losing streak.    

“The Virginia women’s basketball team opened ACC play with a 72-57 loss to Boston College on Thursday at John Paul Jones Arena. The Cavaliers (6-5, 0-1 ACC) faced an early deficit and struggled to recover against the Eagles (7-4, 1-0 ACC).” 

Jaclyn Piermarini’s report on the defeat is linked HERE. UVA Women’s Basketball takes on Maryland Eastern-Shore on December 17th after the exam break.  The Hawks are 4-6 on the year.  Our editor in chief also covered UVA Volleyball’s battle with St John’s in the National Invitational Volleyball championship. 

“The Virginia women’s volleyball team concluded its season on Sunday (12/8) with a 3-1 loss to St. John’s in the second round of the National Invitational Volleyball Championship (NIVC) at Memorial Gymnasium. The Cavaliers (21-11) completed the year with their highest win total since 2006. 

Freshman Becca Wight paced Virginia with 11 kills, matching her season high. Defensively, Abby Tadder and Kate Dean recorded six blocks each, equaling the match-high total set by St. John’s Ludovica Zola. St. John’s was led offensively by Giorgia Walther with 21 kills and Rashanny Solano Smith, who posted 23 digs.” 

Her full report on the Hoos’ final game of the season is HERE.   

UVA Men’s and Women’s Squash went on an Ivy League Road Trip in the Northeast.  On Friday, in a battle of #6 vs #5 in the nation, the Hoos won their first match with the Crimson ever by a score of 5-4.  The Men’s team made it two wins from two on the weekend with a 6-3 victory over Dartmouth.  They are 4-0 all time against Dartmouth and improve to 4-2 on the year.  The Women’s team had a taller task ahead of them in Cambridge, and the #6 team in the nation fell to the nation’s best squad 7-2. Credit to the Women however, as they put their defeat out of sight and mind swiftly with a sweep of Dartmouth 9-0.  The UVA Women’s Squash team is also 4-2 on the year.  Both squads will begin conference play in Mid-January against Stanford and Dickinson respectively.   

Also earning two wins over the weekend was the UVA Wrestling team.  They welcomed the Ivy League Penn Quakers to Memorial Gymnasium on Friday Night and were dominant throughout the card.   The Hoos earned wins in seven weight classes to send the Quakers packing 25-11.  Nick Hamilton started strong at 165, followed by shutout wins from Justin Phillips and Max Shulaw.  Heavyweight Gabe Christenson then won by technical fall in a battle of the big men to make it three wins in a row.  Three more wins from Gable Porter and the Gioffree brothers sealed the Quakers fate,and brought the dual to a close with the Hoos victorious.   

The Hoos then hit the road down to Lexington for a dual with the Virginia Military Institute.  The Keydets were 3-2 going into the dual, and it would be a night to forget for the home squad, as UVA won nine classes to hammer VMI 40-3.  The only win the Keydets earned all night was a victory by #33 Braxton Lewis over Griffin Gammell.  Each of the remaining Hoos who took the mat that night won his match to dominant the evening and bring the Hoos to 4-1 on the year. They will tangle with George Mason next in Fairfax this Sunday December 8th.    The Patriots are yet to lose on the year, besting Buffalo 29-9 last time.    

Track and Field got to work on their season over the weekend at both the Liberty Kickoff on Friday and the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener in Boston.  Two field athletes shone with facility records on Friday.  Brooke Lumpkin notched a 16.20m/53-1.75 on the final day of shot-put competition, it was her best ever throw.  Ethan Robinson also finished strong in the Heptathlon with an incredible long jump of 60 meters for a personal best of his own.   On Saturday in Massachusetts, it was the runners’ turn to show their skills.  Cross Country standouts Margot Appleton and Gary Martin each set school records in the 3000 meters, Appleton’s 8:46.23 was a personal best by ten seconds, good for fourth overall in the event.  Martin finished in 7:36.09 in the men’s race, setting the fourth fastest time in Collegiate history.   

Finally, UVA Football was given a large gift by an anonymous donor at the end of last week to change their recruiting fortunes rapidly.   

“Speculation is rampant about who it is, but we’ll never know as Virginia Athletics, the Virginia Athletics Foundation (VAF) and CavFutures announced Thursday a multi-million-dollar ANONYMOUS gift in support of the Virginia football program. The anonymous gift marks the largest one-time cash contribution and the largest non-capital gift to Virginia Football in program history.” 

Jay Hart’s full report on the gift is HERE. 

That ends our Wahoo Rundown for the week of December 9th!  Enjoy the action this week and we’ll break it all down for you next Monday at Cvillerightnow.com.