Charlottesville, VA (cvillerightnow.com): The first true week of action in the spring sports season in 2025 did not disappoint!  Baseball got its season started in a cradle of the game, the island of Puerto Rico over the weekend, Softball’s slate of Invitational action continued, both Basketball teams earned important victories for their ACC tournament chances, and the week was bookended by Tennis action.  As usual on the Wahoo Rundown, no time to lose! 

 The rubber of staggering expectation hit the road for the #2 ranked Virginia Baseball team at Fransisco Montaner Stadium in Puerto Rico on Friday afternoon with a battle against the Michigan Wolverines.  Despite some promising offensive spells, including a game-tying homerun from Juco transfer and Puerto Rico native Chris Arroyo, the Wolverines got the last laugh on a walk-off single in the 11th to knock the Hoos off 5-4 to begin the season.   The train got back on track the next day however, thanks to the big story of the weekend, Virginia’s pitching staff.  Bryson Moore took the mound against Villanova on Saturday, and after not going for more than three innings in all of his previous outings, the big righthander spun a gem, five and two thirds shutout innings of one-hit Baseball.  The Wahoo offense did just enough to find a way through against the Wildcats and spurred on a 3-1 victory for Moore, though Bryson earned a no-decision in the process.  If Moore’s first start of the year was impressive, the Virginia debut of Tomas Valincius was otherwordly.  The tall lefty went six full innings, surrendering one hit, and striking out ten Rice Owls in a 7-0 rout of the Texas outfit.   Virginia, should the weather hold off, will tangle with the George Washington Revolutionaries at 3:00pm at Disharoon Park for the home-opener, before moving on to Round Rock, Texas, for a three-game slate against Oregon State, Minnesota, and Oklahoma this weekend.  GWU was swept on opening weekend against the Trojans of USC.  Oregon State (3-0) on Friday at 7:00pm, Minnesota (1-2) at 1:00pm on Saturday can be heard live on Newsradio WINA.  The third game against Oklahoma (3-0) will have an online stream available right here at Cvillerightnow.com.   

Virginia Softball headed to Clearwater, Florida for its second Invitational in the young season, and got the Shriners Children’s Invitational started right with a victory over Kentucky, 4-1.  Full report on the game HERE. The rest of the weekend was a mixed back for the Hoos.  Alongside a Sydney Hartgrove homerun, unconventional forms of offense kept the Hoos within striking distance of a win against Auburn, but the Tigers capitalized on late game errors from UVA and won a heartbreaker 7-6 in eight innings.  #5 Texas A&M supplied a similar gut punch, as Macee Eaton and Bella Cabral put up the Hoos three runs between them, but the team could not muster much else, falling in 8 4-3 to the Aggies.  The Hoos fell again 6-2 to San Diego State later in the day on Saturday, before getting back to winning ways with a thrilling walk-off victory against #4 UCLA off the bat of dynamic and talented slugging outfielder M.C. Eaton.  The final game of the weekend finished 7-6 in UVA’s favor. Up next will be the Hoos’ home opener, the Mizuno Classic here in Charlottesville at Palmer Park.  The action begins this Thursday with a 4:00pm first pitch against Delaware (2-3) and runs through Sunday featuring contests against UCONN (4-4), Longwood (2-6), and Penn (1-1).   

The ACC Basketball regular season is winding down, and on Saturday, two bitter rivals who’ve had their struggles in the 2024-25 season squared off at Cassel Coliseum.  The Hoos were looking for revenge against the Hokies after Virginia Tech knocked Virginia off by one point at John Paul Jones arena the last time the two teams met.  The game was a classic, end-to-end from first to last horn, until an emphatic dunk from freshman Anthony Robinson put the game away at the 1:17 mark in the fourth quarter.  The Hoos made it back over .500 with a 73-71 victory. They will need all the momentum they need tonight, as the likely ACC champion #3 Duke Blue Devils will take the court at JPJ tonight at 8:00pm on the Virginia Sports Radio Network.  Duke is 22-3 coming off a 106-70 rout of Stanford last time out. 

The Cavalier Women were in Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon for a game that, should they win, would put them in an excellent position going into the ACC tournament.  The Panthers were tough opposition, but a career performance from Virginia guard Kymora Johnson was more than enough to see off the home team by a large margin.  Latasha Lattimore’s 30 points and 11 rebounds earned her the most impressive of her several double doubles this season, but Johnson eclipsed everyone on the court with a 20 point, 11 rebound, 11 assist, triple double show for the crowd at the Peterson event center.  The Hoos as a squad looked a little sluggish to begin the third quarter, but they pulled it back and outscored Pitt in every quarter of the game, and the score reflected it, 80-67, UVA were winners.  A full report on the game can be found HERE. The Hoos will host California on Thursday night, who are 21-6 on the year, coming off a six-point win against Syracuse, 75-69.   

Both UVA Men’s and Women’s Lacrosse teams were in action last weekend.  The Virginia Women engaged in a thrilling contest with another ranked opponent, the #17 Princeton Tigers.  The Tigers, with homefield advantage, took control of the game in the second and third quarters, but the Hoos hung around thanks to steady, consistent offense.  Sophomore Jenna DiNardo added three goals to her total over the course of the game including the go-ahead goal to give the Hoos at 12-11 lead.  Mel Josephson was marvelous in goal, making nine saves throughout the game for UVA, while midfielder Kate Galica controlled 12 draws to help the Hoos retain more of the ball.  The Tigers were staved off via a team effort, 13-11.  The Hoos return home for a battle this Saturday against #15 Stanford on Saturday, February 22nd at 12:00pm.  Stanford is 3-0 currently after winning 20-3 over UC Davis in their previous match.   

#20 Richmond took to the field at Klockner Stadium this Saturday against the #4 ranked Hoos and pulled off a stunning 13-10 upset.  A 4-0 lead for Richmond set the tone early, and 19 total turnovers sealed Virginia’s doom.  Lucas Littlejohn paced the Richmond offense with four goals, and the Richmond keeper Zach Vigue saved 14 shots against the Hoos to complete a big win for the Spiders.  The Panthers of High Point are next up for the Hoos, coming off a 17-11 victory against Robert Morris.  The game is at 5:00pm at Klockner Stadium here on Cvillerightnow.com. 

Virginia Wrestling had two duels over the weekend vs #18 North Carolina on Friday and American University on Sunday.  The Heels got the better of the Hoos in Chapel Hill.  Two quick wins for UNC grabbed the lead for the hosts before the Hoos got their first win of the day from #21 Nick Hamilton to move the score to 9-3, UNC.  Rocco Contino and Dylan Cedeno also both earned wins for UVA to score 10 points for the team, UNC won out in the rest of the matches though, and the dual finished 26-10 for the Heels.  On Sunday, American took an early lead 5-0 to start at 157, but the Hoos won all but two of the remaining matches to earn an important triumph after a tough slate of recent matches, by a whopping score of 30-8.  The Wrestlers will have a week off before they tangle with the #18 Pitt Panthers on Friday night at 7:00pm.  The Panthers are 9-6 after falling to Virginia Tech on the road the last time out.   

Men’s and Women’s Squash were both in Ithaca, New York this weekend, and both teams were undefeated.  The Men’s team beat Cornell 7-2 and Rochester 8-1, and the Women’s team felled Cornell 7-2.  The Women’s team will be on the road against Princeton (9-2) next Sunday 2/23 at noon, and the Men will end the regular season at Princeton (9-1) as well at noon.  

Men’s Golf was in Puerto Rico last week, and the action was highlighted by Paul Chang hitting a 163-yard hole in one on the 16th hole.  Chang was marvelous throughout the tournament, finishing 9th individually, the highest Hoo on the list.  The Cavaliers as a team finished seventh, shooting 22 under par.  Women’s Golf is currently in action at the Moon Golf Invitational in Melbourne, Florida.  

Virginia Track and Field was dividing and conquering in Lynchburg, Boston, and Clemson across the weekend.  The highlights included Margot Appleton taking down a Virginia school record (that she held herself), in the women’s mile in Boston with 4:25.03, Celia Rifaterra winning the women’s high jump with a 1.79m/5-10.25, a meet record at the Lynchburg venue, and Alex Sherman, Gage Gose, Max Russo and Evans White IV lowered their own program record in the men’s 4×400  with a mark of 3:09.79 in Clemson.  Next weekend, the Hoos split up again, heading to Blacksburg, Fayetteville, and back to Boston for another event.  

Finally, Men’s and Women’s tennis both wrapped up play at the ITA Team Indoor Championships last week.  The Women’s team finished a great run to the semifinals of the tournament with a 4-0 defeat to #1 Georgia, and the Men made the quarterfinals before falling to Texas 4-1.  They did end on a high note with a victory in the consolation match against NC State, 4-1.   

That concludes the action in UVA sports this week!  Take every opportunity that you can to support UVA athletics!  See you next week!