Charlottesville, VA (cvillerightnow.com): After a nice, restful, holiday weekend we are back for more to rundown everything you may have missed from a thrilling week of UVA Athletics and look ahead to the next cadre of contests to come your way starting tonight.  Your time is important, that’s why there’s no to waste, we’ll get into the continued struggles of Men’s Basketball, the resurgence of Women’s Basketball, Wrestling’s ACC opener, and lots of Tennis.   

Men’s Basketball’s poor run of form has lasted the majority of the first month of 2025.  They have not won since the final day of 2024, losing badly to Louisville at home, and dropping both games on their California trip.  Wednesday may have been their most heartbreaking loss yet this season, dropping a 54-52 contest to the SMU Mustangs in front of an expectant home crowd.  Jaclyn Piermarini’s full report on the game is HERE, and it was a matchup in which both the team’s confused defense and anemic offense were on full display.  The Hoos faced the Cardinals again on Saturday, and unfortunately, they offered more of the same against #25 ranked Louisville, losing 81-67, and dropping their second game of the year to their bitter rivals.   Jay James’ report on the game can be found HERE.   Two more tough ACC opponents await the Hoos this week, beginning tonight against the Boston College Eagles, who are sitting similarly to Virginia during their own middling season at 9-9 overall and 1-6 in the conference.  They have also failed to win since January 1st, dropping a tough one to #2 Duke last time out 88-63.  Coverage starts tonight at 6:00 pm on WINA and Cvillerightnow.com with Cavalier Countdown, before tip-off at 7:00pm.  Notre Dame comes to town on Saturday with an identical overall record to Virginia at 8-10, losing last time out to Syracuse 77-69.  Tip-off is this Saturday at 6:30pm.  The time is now to find some form for Ron Sanchez and his men, but the outlook is looking undeniably bleak.   

Bleak is not a word that accurately describes the UVA Women’s Basketball team though.  They have turned a corner with the calendar and have rattled off some impressive recent results.  On Thursday their season hit its zenith with a victory of extreme catharsis, hitting the road as the underdogs against their rival Virginia Tech Hokies in Blacksburg and dominating them.  Off the back of a rollicking third quarter, the Hoos powered their way to a 73-65 victory, you can find a full report on the game HERE.   Lightning looked as though it might strike twice on the road trip against a talented #20 NC State Wolfpack team with some of the nation’s best players.  The game was end to end, both sides punching and counter punching to the bitter end, but fouls at the wrong time, and some bad breaks for the Hoos saw them fall short on the fourth quarter, watching the Wolf Pack hang on 73-68.  Latasha Lattimore is often the most prolific rebounder in every game she plays, but she was beaten 13-9 on the boards by Swedish freshman Tilda Trygger, who also chipped in with 9 valuable points.  Lattimore missed out on yet another double-double by just one board, putting up 21 points.  Kymora Johnson added 19 with four assists, and Paris Clark went four 12 with six boards and five assists.  The Hoos shot a sparkling 53% from the floor, and 48% from three-point range but they were undone by the intangibles.  It is a loss, but a loss that Coach Mox’s unit can hold their heads high after, and they’ll need to against a very good #18 Georgia Tech Yellowjackets team this Thursday night.  GT walloped Clemson last time, 89-65, bringing them to 16-3 on the year.  Tip-off is at 7:00pm on WINA, or you can listen here on Cvillerightnow.com.   Louisville comes to town on the weekend for a 2:00pm tip-off on Sunday, they are 13-6 on the year, and lost to Virginia Tech in their previous game, 70-65.   

Wrestling opened their ACC slate on Friday night in Raleigh against the sixth best squad in the nation, the NC State Wolfpack.  There were some positives in the match, as star Dylan Cedeno was able to keep his undefeated individual season alive, coming off some impressive performances on the invitational circuit.  He beat Wolfpack wrestler Tyler Tracy at 141 pounds.  That was it however, as the Wolfpack won every other bout in the dual, bringing the final score to 32-4.  The order of the day for the Hoos is to put such a defeat on the backburner, as they pivot to California for a road trip over the weekend.  They’ll take on #17 Stanford on Sunday.  The Cardinal sent the Sun Devils packing in a dual with Arizona State on Sunday 24-18, bringing them to 6-2 on the year.  If you’d like to follow the action, the match will be streamed live on ACCNX beginning at 6:00pm EST.   

Also last week, both Tennis teams began their regular season slates.  The men were on the road while the women defended Charlottesville at the Boar’s Head Indoor courts.  The #9 Cavaliers squared off with Dusquene on Wednesday, handily dispatching them with a sweep of both matches.  Ranked players Annabelle Xu (#39), Sara Ziodato (#51), Melodie Collard (#59), and Martina Genis Salas (#94), all beat their opponents in singles play, while the champion doubles team of Elaine Chervinsky and Collard saw off their rivals in doubles play.    The Hoos took the court again on Saturday and quickly sent JMU packing with another sweep.  Genis Salas, Ziodato, Xu, and Chervinsky won in straight sets in singles play, and all three doubles matches ended in Virginia wins.  Finally, in a battle of #9 vs #6, the Hoos went 3-3 for the week against the North Carolina Tar Heels in a much closer contest yesterday.  Xu started the match off with a straight-set win, Chervinsky followed her with an upset victory against #20 ranked Carson Tanguilig 6-1, 6-0.   #9 Theadora Rabman defeated Karolina Kozakova to give the Heels their first win.  #23 Tatum Evans also won her sets with Genis Salas, but Ziodato and Collard secured dramatic wins to put the Hoos over the top and achieve victory 4-3.   Meanwhile on the road, the #5 ranked men handled #15 South Carolina by a convincing score of 5-2.  Jangjun Kim and Rafael Jodar got the match started on the right foot with a 6-3 win, #92 Dylan Dietrich and Mans Dahlberg earned a 6-3 win to give the Hoos a 2-0 lead.  Dietrich as the #57 ranked singles players then took on Casey Soole, beating him in straight sets.  Connor Thompson and Lucas Da Silva earned wins for the home team to bring the score to 3-2, but James Hooper upset #77 Jelani Sarr, and Kim finished strong for the Hoos to push the match over the line for UVA.  They marched back up the road to Richmond to battle ODU on Sunday.  The #95 doubles squad of Yanis Moundir and Thomas Nelson gave the Monarchs the first victory of the match.  Moundir was also the only Monarch to win a singles match, upsetting #86 ranked Mans Dahlberg in straight sets.  Rafael Jodar pulled off an upset of his own on the way to a resounding 6-1 victory for the Hoos.  ITA Kickoff Weekend is up next this weekend in Charlottesville, both squads will be in action.  The Women play New Mexico on Friday at 1pm, while the men play Boise State at noon on Saturday.  Should those matches go well, the women will play the winner of #11 Duke and #20 South Carolina.  VCU plays #19 Alabama, and the winner has the Wahoo men to deal with on Sunday at a time to be determined.  The Charlottesville regional has a spot in the ITA Team Indoor Championships on the line.   

Finally last week, both Squash teams earned two wins a piece at home over the weekend.  They both swept Dickinson, 9-0 for the men, and 7-0 for the women on senior day.  In a battle of #5 vs #7, the men knocked out Drexel 6-3, in their final tune-up before the CSA Individual Championships over the weekend in New York City.    The women’s match was a #6 vs #10 showdown, and the Hoos also took the Dragons down 8-1.  Both teams head to New York for the weekend as the members of both squads will compete individually at the CSA Individual Championships.  Looking ahead to the remaining contests this week, the Track team heads to Philadelphia on Saturday for the Penn 10 Elite event.  The Swim and Dive teams fly to Texas for the Eddie Reese Texas Showdown on Friday and Saturday, in which they’ll compete against Texas (ranked #1 in Men’s, and #2 in Women’s), NC State (#6 in Men’s, #9 in Women’s), and Arizona State (#3 in Men’s, and #14 in Women’s).  Lastly, Lacrosse will hold an exhibition match at the St. James on Saturday against John Hopkins.  The match begins at 6pm. 

Thanks for reading, we hope you enjoy all the athletics action this week!  Go Hoos!