By Jeff White (jwhite@virginia.edu)
VirginiaSports.com

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The University of Virginia men’s tennis team will play in the NCAA tournament’s Sweet Sixteen at the Boar’s Head Resort on Saturday afternoon. At the same time, the UVA women’s team will play in the same round of its NCAA tournament, some 560 miles away in Ann Arbor, Mich.

A year ago, both teams advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals, and the Virginia men went on to capture the title for the fifth time. The Cavaliers’ director of tennis, Andres Pedroso, is also head coach of the men’s team, so he won’t be in Michigan on Saturday. But he’ll be pulling for his counterpart, Sara O’Leary, and her team.

“Sara and I have always believed that when one program is doing well, it’s really good for the other program,” Pedroso said. “I really think that if both teams are working together, things that are happening on one team translate toward the other team, and it’s only positive and beneficial for everyone.”

This marks the third straight season that both UVA teams have reached the third round of their respective NCAA tournaments. The two programs are close, and it’s “been a total team effort,” Pedroso said. “I was dead on when it came to Sara’s character when we…

The Cavaliers, who advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals in 2022 are 18-6 and ranked No. 11 as they head into this year’s NCAA tournament. The tournament field will be announced Monday during an online selection show on NCAA.com, starting at 6 p.m.

Due to the pandemic, the NCAA tournament wasn’t held in 2020, but “the last two years have been amazing experiences,” Subhash said.

She’s learned that a team’s health is a critical factor in May. “I think at this point in the season most teams have a lot of players that are kind of banged up,” Subhash said. “Tennis is a really strenuous sport, and injuries, at least small ones, are very common. So focusing on the fitness side of it and recovery, being smart with practice, I think that’s a big thing.”

Also important, Subhash said, is “building your team’s connection and that sense of unity. This year, especially, we’ve seen in our conference that every single team is so strong. So [talent alone] is not what’s gonna set teams apart. It’s more of the connection players have with each other and the trust that your team has. I think what sets the winning team apart from the rest is just that last step of love and connection. So building that, I think, is really important at these stages.”

Subhash…