Charlottesville, VA (cvillerightnow.com): It was a slightly abbreviated week of UVA Athletics last week, in observance of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, but that is not to say that plenty of action wasn’t packed into the time, because it absolutely was.  Conference play in Basketball rages on, the men got back to winning ways, while the women came close to pulling off stunning upsets in both of their games.  Wrestling was on the west coast taking on a dangerous Stanford squad.  Both the men’s and women’s Tennis teams were at home at The Boar’s Head over the weekend.  Swim and Dive took their record-setting ways to Texas, and Track to Pennsylvania. Let’s run it down!   

Since the beginning of 2025, Virginia has failed to get into the win column against their foes in the ACC.  With Boston College coming to town on Tuesday, and needing to win urgently, Ron Sanchez’s Hoos got the job done, with a convincing 74-56 victory over the Eagles.  You can a full report on the game HERE, in a contest that saw the Hoos shoot 52 % from the field, and 55% from three-point range.   A complete, well-timed, domination.  The joy, however, did not last long.  Looking to start a run against a Notre Dame team in a similar situation to their own on Saturday, and in front of a sold-out John Paul Jones Arena, it was the Irish that came out with the do-or-die ACC victory.  True freshman Jacob Coffie had an excellent game, hitting 17 points and notching 6 rebounds, but team defense let the Hoos down, as did their ball-handling.  Their quest for momentum as the end of the season looms will continue on the road in Coral Gables for a Wednesday night tip-off on the 29th.  Virginia and Miami will go at 7:00pm, and you can listen along here on Cvillerightnow.com, where the stream of the Virginia Sports Radio Network lives!   The Canes are reeling from the departure of their head coach Jim Larrañaga mid-season and have only won four times all season long.    

Meanwhile the Cavalier Women began with the week with a Sunday defeat on the road at #20 NC State.  Despite the scoreline, the game came down to the final minute of action, and on another day, perhaps the Hoos could have come out on top.  However, the Hoos were undeterred and marched on to take on #18 on Georgia Tech Thursday night.   The Jackets, with their shock and awe offense, came out swinging in the first half, jumping out to a 20-point lead at one point in the second quarter.  However, the Hoos fought hard, and of the course of the second half, trimmed the lead to just two, but that was all they got.  A full report by yours truly can be found HERE, but the Hoos came up just short, the game finished 75-62.  Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton, who has done exceptionally well instilling resilience in her players through the many setbacks of this year, turned heads straight to set Sunday afternoon after a tough defeat.  On National Women and Girls in Sports Day, in front of a packed JPJ crowd that included UVA President Jim Ryan, UVA AD Carla Wiliams, and six current and former UVA students who competed at the Paris Olympics last summer, the Hoos again played the underdog role well, falling badly behind in the first half against the Louisville Cardinals.  With echoes of Thursday raging, they began a furious comeback in the third and fourth quarters, trimming a 15-point lead to just three with seconds remaining.  However, the expectant crowd was again disappointed by the defense losing focus, and the offense drying up at just the wrong time.  The game ended 68-65 as Louisville survived the scare.   Virginia hits the road to get back to winning ways for a Thursday night tip with the Miami Hurricanes at 7:00pm in Coral Gables.  The Miami women are faring significantly better than their counterparts, with 12 wins on the year, carving out a solid victory against SMU in their last contest, 70-63.  The game can be streamed live at 7:00pm here at Cvillerightnow.com, home of the Virginia Sports Radio Network.   

From the JPJ court, to the Boars Head Indoor Courts, the Women’s Tennis got their weekend started with a shot at the ITA Kickoff final on the line Friday against New Mexico.  As a team, they entered the contest undefeated, and would leave the court undefeated.  Victories from Annabelle Xu, Martina Genis Salas, and Isabelle Lacey in singles play, and the champion doubles pairing of Elaine Chervinsky and Melodie Collard swept New Mexico out and sent the Hoos through to the kickoff final.  From there, the #5 Hoos took on the #7 Blue Devils of Duke with a shot to qualify for the ITA Indoor Championships as a team. UVA’s doubles pairs of Collard and Chervinsky, and Genis Salas and Xu each earned wins to start the match. Sara Ziodato got the Hoos within striking distance with a win in singles action, but Duke soon stormed back.  Irina Balus defeated Xu, then Ellie Colman sent Genis Salas packing.  After a Collard victory, another Duke win came to Eleana Yu, before the chance to be the hero arrived for Elaine Chervinsky.  She did not waste her chance and sent #25 Emma Jackson back to the bench in defeat, and the Hoos to the Indoor Championships.  Next week, the Hoos have Michigan at home as we turn the calendar to February.  The Wolverines are 2-0 at the time of writing.   

As for the men, Boise State stood in their way of the ITA kickoff final on Saturday.  It was a rough day at the office for the much-vaunted Dylan Dietrich.  The #57 nationally ranked Wahoo star fell in singles play to #111 Jett Middleton, and his doubles match alongside Mads Dahlberg was not completed.   The team though, picked him up and helped him on, earning a convincing 4-2 victory, thanks to doubles wins from Keegan Rice and James Hopper and Jangjun Kim and Rafael Jodar.  Hopper, Rice, and Jodar helped seal the deal with singles wins, before Stiles Brockett finished off a 4-2 Virginia victory.  Later in the weekend, after the Women got the job done against Duke, the Men took on the Crimson Tide of #19 Alabama.  Dietrich fell in singles play again, this time to Filip Planinsek.  However, that would be the Tide’s only victory of the day.  Rice, Jodar, Hopper, Dahlberg, and Kim all won their singles matches to put a nice bow on a 4-1 victory, sending the Hoos to the Indoor Championships.  Despite their qualification, the regular season slate gets tougher from here, as two matches next weekend, against #3 Ohio State (4-0 in 2025) and #1 Texas (6-0 in 2025) await on the 31st of January and 2nd of February respectively.   

 I hope that you’ve become a Dylan Cedeno fan as I have been running down UVA Wrestling action for you.  He started his season undefeated going into Sunday’s duel with Stanford, and I am pleased to report that he remains undefeated after winning at 141 pounds against the Cardinal’s Jason Miranda.  Also getting in the win column for the Hoos were Kevyeon Roller at 125, and Tyler Knox at 133.  However, the Cardinal lived up to the Trees they were named for at the remaining weight classes, dominating the remainder of the meet to send the Hoos home in defeat 34-9.  UVA falls to 4-3 on the year after a hot start to the year. A road bout in the Commonwealth Clash awaits on Friday against the 5-2 Hokies.  The duel begins on the ACC Network at 7:00pm.   

Both Swim and Dive headed for the Texas Showdown over the weekend.  The #18 Cavalier men came up 0-3 against #1 Texas, #4 Arizona State, and #6 NC State.  Meanwhile, the top-ranked Cavalier Women sent all three teams packing, winning 199-53 over Texas, 234.50-117.50 over NC State, and 250-102 over Arizona State.  The stars were out in force for the Women both days of the event, Gretchen Walsh took the 50 free and 100 fly, her two specialties, with stellar swims, alongside a great split in the 400 free relay, and a 45.68 in the 100 free.  Claire Curzan won the 100 and 200 backstroke with strong times, and Emma Webber, notched a win in the 200 breaststroke.  Katie Grimes won the 400 IM in 3:59.02, the best time in the NCAA.   Alex Walsh also posted two stellar wins in the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke, with both her times (1:51.80 in the IM, and 56.98 in breast) good for tops in the NCAA this season.     

After such a comfortable win, the Walsh sisters and Aimee Canny, Olympians in Paris last summer, headed home for a ceremony alongside several other Olympians at JPJ to honor their triumph on National Women and Girls in Sports Day on Sunday.  The swimming stars were joined by Pole Vault national champion Bridget WIlliams, Team Nigeria shot-putter Ashley Anumba, and paralympic rowing medalist Sky Dahl at half-court for a masive standing ovation.   

Track and Field also had a banner day at the Penn 10 Elite Relays at the Ott Center in Philadelphia this weekend.   They set four facility records on a day that saw eight event wins for the Hoos. Tatum David won the women’s mile with an FR time of 4:33.27, seventh best in NCAA this year.  Sophie Atkisson got the second record time with a 9:14.22 in the women’s 3000-meter victory. High jumper Celia Rifaterra cleared a record high jump height of 1.80m for the victory.  Finally, Brooke Lumpkin threw a stellar 15.88 meters in women’s shot put to take home top marks and UVA’s final facility record.    The Hoos co-host the Virginia Invitational in Virginia Beach next up, that will not be until the 7th of February.   

Thanks as always for reading your weekly Wahoo Rundown!  See you Monday and Go Hoos!