Boland’s Cavs keep knocking them down

Virginia’s undefeated and No. 1-ranked men’s tennis team keeps running into familiar faces on its quest to bring the program its first NCAA championship.

On Saturday, the Cavaliers dispatched ACC rival North Carolina for the third time this season, this one in the second round of the NCAA tournament at Snyder Tennis Center. No sooner had the Wahoos sent the Tar Heels packing than UVa coach Brian Boland learned that his squad’s next opponent in the Sweet 16 will be Florida State.

That third meeting will take place Thursday under the blazing sun of College Station, Texas, a boiling pot none of the current Cavs experienced when Virginia was ousted by eventual champion UCLA back in 2005.

He’ll play anyone

As Boland said after watching his team improve to a staggering 31-0 on Saturday, at this point of the season it’s not so much who you play, but how you’re playing and how prepared you are.

If that’s the case, he’s got to be headed to Texas A&M with a good feeling about the Cavaliers’ chances. Boland said that his team just keeps getting better.

Even North Carolina coach Sam Paul praised Virginia’s performance and what Boland has accomplished here in such a short span: the Cavaliers are the only team in the nation to be a top-eight seed in each of the past six seasons.

“You saw that we had seven ACC teams in the round of 32, so Brian’s put pressure on all of us to step it up a notch,” Paul said. “He’s done a fantastic job. We weren’t super excited to come here and face Virginia in the second round because we know how tough they are.”

Tough, yes, but with that reputation and the No. 1 ranking being a huge bullseye on their chests, the Cavaliers realize that once they reach this stage of the national tournament, nothing comes easy.

They won’t sneak up

“Last year was the same situation,” said sophomore Sanam Singh, who closed out UVa’s 4-0 victory over the Tar Heels on Saturday with his singles win. “We have gotten used to it. We’ve been No. 1 for most of our time here.

“The pressure is good because people are gunning for you and you go out there and have to play with intensity and not think about we’re No. 1 and they’re No. 5,” said Singh, who is 37-5 overall this season. “At this level, everyone is coming to play.”

Michael Shabaz (36-8) said in some ways, though, it works to Virginia’s advantage, especially when they reach this point in the season.

“They also fear us a little bit, too, because we are the top seed,” he said. “So you have to look at it both ways.”

Boland has spoken often about how this team — like some of the others he has coached at UVa — thrives on pressure, scoops it up with a spoon.

“If you don’t like pressure, this is the wrong program to join,” he said.

As good as Virginia has been in the last several years, even Boland is somewhat astonished at what this season’s squad has accomplished. They’re the only undefeated major college team in the country, out of more than 300. They also won the ITA National Indoor Championship for the second straight year.

“I’ve had some great teams in the past, but there’s something really unique about this one,” said Boland, who garnered his 200th win as UVa’s coach in Saturday’s match. “When you look at the fact that we lost Somdev Devvarman, a two-time national singles champion, and lost Teddy Angelinos and Treat Huey, and yet came back and returned to the Sweet 16 this year and haven’t lost a match, speaks volumes about these young men and what they’ve learned from their experiences.”

Shabaz, a sophomore, believes that taking the indoor title can only help when the team heads to Texas A&M this morning.

“I honestly think it helps because there’s only two times when the best in the nation meets [indoors and outdoors], and the first time we came out on top,” Shabaz said. “That can only help us the rest of this tournament when things become very mental. Everyone will be gunning for us, but we have an inner confidence that we can keep going.”

Boland believes there’s nothing like experience and his team’s cup runneth over with an almost embarrassment of riches when it comes to that department.

Take the indoor title, for example. As Boland put it, Virginia’s been on the national stage, faced the best teams in the country and won all the marbles.

“First and foremost, you take a lot of confidence from that,” the UVa coach said. “Secondly, we’ve seen some of these teams and we know what the environment is like. The fact we’ve been here six years in a row and had a lot of success in the postseason can only help us.”

A modest guy, who would rather point to his players for the program’s success, Boland isn’t comfortable talking about himself. So, it was no surprise when asked about his 200th win in only six seasons at Virginia, he came back with a George Welsh-like answer, as short as possible.

“I’d like to win a lot more,” Boland said.

He would prefer that the next three come within the next 10 days in Texas.