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

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — In college tennis, a team’s whole can be greater than the sum of its parts. Consider the University of Virginia women’s squad. Head coach Sara O’Leary may not have a player as dominant as, say, a Danielle Collins or an Emma Navarro at the top of her singles lineup, but collectively the Cavaliers are putting together one of the best seasons in program history.

“We understand that at the end of the day, it’s a unit and we’re a team,” sophomore Annabelle Xu said after fifth-seeded UVA advanced to the NCAA tournament’s third round Sunday with a 4-0 victory over Princeton on the indoor courts at the Boar’s Head Resort.

“Our team is so deep,” Xu said. “I think that’s been one of our biggest strengths all season, knowing that every time we step on the court, every single person at every spot has a chance to win.”

In the NCAA tournament, as in the regular season, teams play dual matches in which seven points are at stake. The six singles matches are worth one point apiece, and the team that wins two of the three doubles matches earns another point.

“Every spot is worth the same,” O’Leary said. “We have confidence in everyone we put out there, and I think they…

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…

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…