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

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — The University of Virginia women’s tennis team is using its off weekend before the start of the NCAA tournament to gather for a much-loved event.

The Cavaliers’ annual awards banquet is Saturday at the Rotunda, where one of the program’s most distinguished alumnae, Cindy Brinker Simmons, will present the award for the team’s most improved player. Brinker Simmons, who lives in Dallas, has done so since early in Sara O’Leary’s tenure as head coach.

“It just felt so fitting with the way she takes on life and has such an amazing attitude about it, no matter what is thrown her way,” said O’Leary, who’s in her seventh season at UVA.

When she played at Virginia, she was Cindy Brinker. That changed when she married Bob Simmons in 1990, but she remains as upbeat and exuberant as when she arrived on Grounds in 1975, not long after the University had gone co-ed.

“She’s the best. I love her,” O’Leary said. “Every time that she comes to Charlottesville, we grab coffee or she’ll come over to our house for dinner. I just think she’s a wonderful person and has a lot of joy and she’s super kind, and I look up to her a lot. She’s accomplished so many amazing things in…