Out of the shadow? UVa’s women look to make mark

Right now, you could say the Virginia women’s tennis program is living in a Shaquille O’Neal-sized shadow: the UVa men’s tennis program.
It’s not all that bad of a thing.
It’s a shadow that can shield them. To a degree, it can teach them. The shadow can motivate them.
But in the end, if they’re going to reach the great heights that coach Mark Guilbeau desires, they’re going to have to burst out.
“We’re shooting for the same standard [as the men’s team],” said Guilbeau, who is in his fourth year at the helm. “It’s hard to stand here and say that another team is going to match what they’ve done, but we’re certainly hoping to be a top-10 program year in and year out.
“We have the facilities. We have the support administratively. We have everything we need.”
This season, Guilbeau’s squad seems to have taken the first step toward doing it. Virginia just completed a
12-8 regular season and is expected to qualify for the NCAA Tournament that kicks off May 8. It hasn’t been the undefeated, dominant season of their male counterparts, but, after failing to qualify for last year’s tournament, it’s definitely a start.
“We know we’re still building,” said Guilbeau, who is 50-44 at Virginia. “I don’t know that we’ve really reached another level, to be honest.
“I think we’ve had some ups and downs, but I think that’s been dictated by incredible strength in the ACC. No excuses, but you’re basically playing five of the top 15 teams [in the country] in a row. It’s a daunting task.”
In 2006, Guilbeau took over a program that was coming off a six-win season and hadn’t been to the NCAA tournament two straight years. The former coach at Kentucky took Virginia to the tournament in each of his first two years before just missing out last year.
A key to this season’s mini-resurgence has been due, in large part, to the arrival of freshmen Emily Fraser and Lindsey Hardenbergh, and sophomore Neela Vaez.
Fraser, the team’s No. 1 singles player, has given Virginia stability atop its lineup. The Rye, N.Y., native is ranked No. 87 in the country.
Hardenbergh, from Fairfax, plays at No. 4, while Neela, a transfer from Purdue, is at No. 6.
Another key to the
improvement has been Virginia’s play on its home court. The Cavaliers have lost just two home matches at the Snyder Tennis Center. Guilbeau says the Virginia tennis community deserves a great deal of credit.
“They’ve been incredible,” he said, “and that’s been one of our goals — to build our fan base. This year was the greatest attendance we had by far.”
Virginia started the season extremely strong, winning 10 of its first 12 matches — including a victory over 25th-ranked TCU — and rose all the way to No. 18 in the country.
“We had some pretty decisive wins,” Fraser said. “I felt like after that we were on a good path for success.”
The Cavaliers began struggling once they got into the meat of their ACC schedule. They lost six straight in league, but were able to close out the season on a positive note with wins over Wake Forest and N.C. State, and then a first-round victory in the ACC tournament over Boston College.
Clearly, the men’s and women’s teams have different goals right now. While anything less than a return trip to the NCAA Final Four will probably be considered a letdown for the men, the women are taking baby steps.
For now, that appears to be OK with everyone involved.
“It’s tough because they are obviously a very successful team,” Fraser said. “It’s hard to live up to that, but hopefully one day we’ll be able to be up there with them instead of being in their shadow.
“[Coach Guilbeau] always uses the guys as an example for us to follow. I mean you can’t get much more successful than them.”
Guilbeau believes some of his players need to set higher goals. He thinks sometimes they are in too much of awe of the men.
“I think [we] need to understand that we’re supposed to be doing some of the same things that [the men] are,” he said, “and some of why they’re doing it is because they have taken tremendous ownership of their games.
“They basically grow and mature right away into collegiate student-athletes, who know they’re here to play as absolutely hard as they can and win matches. We’re still searching for that.”