Charlottesville, VA (Cvillerightnow.com): Happy Thanksgiving Wahoo fans!  It’s time for one final Wahoo Rundown in November!  It’s Rivalry Week in Football, Feast Week in Basketball, and Winter Sports well underway as crossover season nears its end!  Let’s get into it! 

Football had a big opportunity to go earn Bowl Eligibility for the first time in the Tony Elliot era on Saturday on Senior Day and Fan Appreciation Day against the undefeated SMU Mustangs.  Coach Elliot stuck to his gun on his choice for starting Quarterback in the face of increased scrutiny on signal caller Anthony Colandrea’s recent play.  The Mustangs rolled over the Hoos at Scott Stadium 33-7.   Jay James’ full report on the game can be found HERE.  Ahead on Saturday night at 8:00 PM, also with bowl eligibility on the line, are the Virginia Tech Hokies.  VT fell to Duke 31-28 last time out failing to clinch a bowl and will have the opportunity to do in at Lane Stadium against their hated rivals, that’s if the Hoos can’t spoil the party and clinch of a bowl berth of their own.   

Men’s Basketball headed to the Baha Mar Challenge in the Bahamas for a pair of games at the end of last week after earning a big victory against Villanova in Baltimore.  Waiting for them on Thursday night were the #11 Tennessee Volunteers, the squad that many analysts ascribe to the moniker of best defense in the nation.  Against Ron Sanchez and the Hoos, they showed it, winning out by a score of 64-42, Jay James report on the game is HERE.  The Hoos had to turn around and the play the loser of the game that preceded their fight with Tennessee, the Red Storm of #22 St. John’s, led by old ACC foe Rick Pitino.  Sadly, for UVA, revenge would not come in the Bahamas, and they never looked comfortable against Pitino’s men, turning the ball over 15 times and being outscored by 10 points or more during both halves.  St John’s shot over 52% from the field.  Elijah Saunders, Andrew Rohde, and Issac McKneely reached double figures in points, but transfers TJ Power and Dai Dai Ames were noticeably absent in terms of game-changing contributions.  The only thing for it is to turn the page, awaiting Ron Sanchez’s unit this week are two games against non-conference opponents in Manhattan and Holy Cross on Tuesday at 7:00, and Friday at 4:00 respectively, both at John Paul Jones Arena.  Manhattan is coming off a rollicking 80-79 victory over Army last time out to bring them to 3-2 on the year.   Holy Cross is 4-3 on the year after a tough 80-55 loss to Maine last time out.   

As for Coach Amaka Agugua-Hamilton and the Cavalier Women’s Basketball Team, they had two non-conference games this week at John Paul Jones Arena.  First up on Wednesday was Alabama State, who proved to be very little trouble for the Hoos.  Jay James full report on UVA’s 85-50 victory can be found HERE.  The Hoos faced the Bethune-Cookman Wildcats on this past Sunday, and dominated again, breaking the 80-point mark for the second game in a row.  The Hoos dominated the boards with 56 rebounds, the paint, with 5 blocks, and shot well from the field at 43%.  Keeping the ball proved difficult but not impossible, committing their fair share of turnovers.  Breona Hurd (15 points, 12 rebounds) and Taylor Lauterbach (10 points, 10 rebounds) both had double doubles, and Kymora Johnson put up 20 points against the Wildcats in what was a rout of their Floridian opponents.  Later this week, the Hoos catch a plane to San Juan for three feast-week games on Thanksgiving weekend, facing Green Bay on Thankgiving Day at 11am, Washington State on Black Friday at 4pm, and Wyoming on Saturday at 1:30pm.  Green Bay is 3-2 on the year fresh off a 70-57 win against Depaul.  Washington State is 2-3, falling to #22 Iowa last time out 72-43.  They’ll face Norfolk State on Thanksgiving before taking on the Hoos.  Finally, Wyoming is also 2-3, winning 80-54 against Colorado Christian in their last game, and will face Drake on Thanksgiving Day.   

Men’s Soccer earned homefield advantage in the NCAA tournament early last week, and on Sunday, they welcomed the West Virginia Mountaineers to the pitch at Klockner Stadium.  Marcus Caldiera got the visitors out of the blocks quickly to try and take the home crowd out of the match, volleying a header courtesy of Simon Carlson into the back of the Virginia net.  The Mountaineers remained on the front foot through all 90 minutes of play, but the Hoos have proven themselves to be masters of the counterattack comeback.  The Cavaliers saw the thrust of the WVU attack and execute a riposte swiftly after the Mountaineers third minute goal.  Three minutes later, decorated regular season star defender Nick Dang fired a ball through midfield, which was then headed along by AJ Ryan for Albin Gashi to run on.  The Swede charged through the WVU line, challenging Mountaineer keeper Marc Bonnaire, sliding to try and grab the ball.  Gashi, as he fell to ground, struck the ball into the empty net on his weaker left foot to tie the match at 1.  AJ Smith made a stellar run into the box with 12 minutes to play in the 1st half and connected on a cross from Brendan Lambe rocketing down the left wing and sent the Hoos through to the next round with a tap in to bring the score to 2-1.  Joey Batrouni and the UVA backline did the rest, holding off all 15 of the shots the Mountaineers took for the rest of the match.  The comeback Hoos struck again.  Their stellar effort has put them into contention with UMass in the third round of the tournament.  UMass knocked off both Evansville and #6 Penn to reach this point and were 12-3-5 on the regular season.  Kickoff is November 30th at 5:00 PM in Klockner Stadium.   

Women’s Soccer also entered NCAA tournament action on the West Coast.  On USC’s home turf, their battle on Friday was with the Wisconsin Badgers.  After an early exit in the ACC tournament, the Hoos were looking for a rebound, with a chance at the round of 16 hanging in the balance.  Both squads played with determination and heart and managed to keep each other off the scoreboard after 110 minutes of play.   A penalty shootout loomed, with Virginia holding most of the possession throughout the run of play and taking more shots, the Hoos looked to have brought their shooting boots to proceedings, however it was not to be.  Wisconsin beat keeper Victoria Safradin four times, and as the Hoos only converted two of their penalty attempts, their season ended on Friday.  Head Coach Steve Swanson said of that his players “… played extremely well on the defensive side the entire game, but we just could not do enough on the attacking end or with our set plays to score.” 

Virginia Volleyball has turned some heads this year and drew the second largest crowd ever to Memorial Gymnasium on Friday to watch their match against the #3 ranked Louisville Cardinals.  The Hoos are closing in on the highest ever win total in program history this year, sitting on 20 and needing to get to 23.  Unfortunately for the huge home crowd, the Cardinals proved formidable, and downed the Hoos in four sets.  Charitie Luper and Anna DeBeer each had 13 kills in the match for Louisville.  In set one, a 4-4 tie became a 17-9 set after a 8-0 run from Louisville, and the Hoos dropped set one 25-10.  The Cardinals won set two handily as well by winning eight of the last ten points.   The Hoos fought back to make the contest interesting in set three, never losing throughout the set.  With the set at 13-12, a well-timed Virginia run brought them to 23-19.  The Cardinals mustered a last-minute push that was squashed by Kate Dean to win the set 25-23, and bring the match score to 2-1.  That was where the positives ended for UVA, as the Cardinals finished the match off in set four, wrapping up the set 25-16.   The loss meant the best the Hoos could do was tie the record by winning out.  They welcomed the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to close out Senior Weekend, and started their last three matches of the year off with a bang, sweeping out their opponents.  Elayna Duprey and Abby Tadder started set one strong, helping the Hoos to an 8-2 lead, the Irish kept it tight, but a Wahoo run late got the victory over the line 25-21.  The Irish looked much more competitive in set two, fighting the Hoos to nine ties throughout.  Tied at 16, the Wahoos once again seized control, putting themselves in control with a Tadder kill putting an exclamation point on a 25-22 score.  The Irish led set three before taking their feet off the gas pedal midway through, taking the lead 13-9, one way they would never relinquish.  Tadder sent the Irish home to end the set, and the sweep to give the Hoos win #21 on the year by a score of 25-21.  They head to North Carolina on Wednesday at 2:00 PM to face a Heels team that is 20-7 but coming off a sweep at the hands of Stanford, before coming home to end the regular season with a match against the Boston College Eagles on Saturday at 1:00 PM.  The Eagles are 14-16 and will play Clemson on Wednesday first before coming to Charlottesville.  Last time out they beat Syracuse 3-1.   

Virginia Wrestling fell to powerhouse #8 Michigan on Sunday 29-12 in a tough one for the home crowd.  The duel began at 157 pounds, and the Wolverines took control early, rattling off wins in five straight bouts.  UVA was able to make it interesting beginning at heavyweight at Gabe Christiansen preserved his undefeated record this year.  Back down at 125, Keyveon Roller continued his strong start to the year with an impressive, agile victory.   Sadly, Michigan won the remaining bouts to take the victory in the duel.  Penn comes to town next Friday December 6th at 7:00 PM for action at Memorial Gymnasium.  They are fresh off a fourth-place finish at the Keystone Classic.   

 We wrap-up our Rundown with both Squash teams in action over the weekend, and both going 1-1.  Both the Men’s team and the Women’s team lost to #1 and #3 ranked Penn Men’s and Women’s Squash respectively, by a score of 8-1 for the Men, and 7-2 for the Women.  Later, both squads earned wins against #6 and #25 ranked Men’s and Women’s Chatham Squash, 9-0 for the Men, and 6-0 for the Women.   Virginia Swim and Dive was at the Tennessee Invitational last week, the Women won comfortably over both Tennesse and Kentucky, 234-153 over the Vols, and 282-105 over the Wildcats.  Gretchen Walsh set an American Record in the 100 Fly on the first day, full report HERE.  That was not the only record-breaking swim though, Claire Curzan notched an American record of her on the last day of competition in the 200 backstroke.   The second year’s mark of 1:46.87 is an NCAA, US Open, UVA, meet and pool record.  Meanwhile the Men’s team won against Kentucky 226-159, while losing to the Volunteers, 248-134. Two Hoos earned All-American honors at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Wisconsin over the weekend.  Margot Appleton, who finished the 6K in 18th at 19:51.0, and Gary Martin, who placed 13th in the 8K at 29:02.3, led the Hoos to 14th and 21st place team finishes in the championships.  Elaine Chervinsky and Mélodie Collard brought a doubles title home to Charlottesville at the NCAA Tennis Championships in Waco, Texas.  They defeated Olivia Center and Kate Fakih of UCLA.  Chervinsky also reached the quarterfinals of the singles draw, falling to AU’s DJ Bennett.   

 

That brings this week’s rundown to a close.  If you’re celebrating, from all of us at Cvillerightnow.com, happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.  Go Hoos!