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   SabreMail - Jan. 27, 2014
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UVa Picks Up Preseason Recognition

From VirginiaSports.com Official News Releases

Virginia has been selected as the 2014 ACC Baseball preseason favorite in a vote of the conference's 14 head coaches, the league office announced. This marks the second time Virginia has been tabbed as the preseason conference favorite. UVa also was picked as the coaches' favorite in 2010; the Cavaliers went on to post the conference's top record that season.

UVa received 12 of the 14 first-place votes in the Coastal Division and also was selected as the overall conference champion by 10 of the 14 head coaches. Florida State received the other four votes for the predicted ACC champion. UVa received 96 votes in the Coastal Division prognostication, followed by North Carolina (84), Miami (66), Georgia Tech (57), Duke (36), Virginia Tech (35) and Pitt (18).

Virginia returns 22 letterwinners, including eight key position players, off its 50-12 team from the 2013 season. UVa won a regional championship last year and made its fourth trip in the last five seasons to an NCAA Super Regional. UVa has eight position players back who competed in at least 47 games last year as well as seven pitchers who tossed at least 30 innings apiece.

Five of the returnees have been named preseason All-Americans by at least one national outlet - infielder Branden Cogswell, outfielder Brandon Downes, outfielder Derek Fisher, infielder/pitcher Nick Howard, and outfielder/first baseman Mike Papi. Papi was a first-team All-American last season, and he was joined on the 2013 All-ACC Team by Howard and Cogswell.

The Cavaliers also have been named the preseason No. 1 team in the nation by Baseball America (read it here).

This is the first time in program history that Virginia has opened the year at No. 1. The Hoos, who have reached the 50-win plateau in three of the last four years, have been ranked No. 1 at some point in the season three times in the last five years.

This marks the second straight year that an ACC team has ranked No. 1, as North Carolina opened last year atop the rankings and went on to earn the No. 1 national seed and reach the College World Series.
   Recruiting News

This Week In Recruiting With Chris Horne

Coach Mike London and company enjoyed a productive day on Sunday, when they received verbal commitments from two outside linebacker/defensive end prospects in Cory Jones and Christopher Peace. Both players, as well as Jesuit (Tampa, FL) linebacker prospect Vincent Jackson Jr., were on Grounds this past weekend on official visits.

Jones, a 6’3”, 220-pound senior out of Archbishop Carroll (Washington, D.C.), committed to Toledo in December before switching to the Cavaliers. An intriguing prospect, Jones had never played high school football before his senior year, when he totaled 26 sacks and earned first-team all-WCAC honors. Toledo and Virginia were the first two schools to offer last November with others including Illinois and Old Dominion.

An EDGE update is up with quotes from Jones’ high school coach, Rick Houchens, and I will update that piece with quotes from the standout sleeper prospect.

Peace, a 6’3”, 225-pound senior out of Denbigh High School in Newport News (VA), accepted the UVa scholarship offer he received while on Grounds. He also blossomed as a senior, totaling 17 sacks in his first full season on defense (he played defensive end).

Virginia hosted another linebacker, Vincent Jackson Jr., on Grounds this past weekend. Jackson hails from Jesuit High School in Tampa (FL) and is also considering South Florida and Missouri, among others. I plan to have the latest on Jackson this week.

This weekend, Virginia is scheduled to host 4-star defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi on an official visit. The Ocean Lakes (Va. Beach) star has taken officials to Florida State, Penn State, Ohio State, and Virginia Tech. UVa is thought to be on the outside looking in at this point, but we’ll find out for sure when he announces on Feb. 5 (National Signing Day).

Also this week, stay tuned for more basketball recruiting coverage including an article on class of 2016 point guard Ty Graves, a North Carolina native who has an offer from the Cavaliers. EDGE subscribers can check out a report on class of 2016 shooting guard Monte Buckingham, a product of Henrico High School (VA) who visited UVa for the UNC game last week.

Chris Horne, our resident recruiting expert, provides updates throughout the week for EDGE subscribers about UVa's commitments and recruiting targets in football and men's basketball. To sign up for an EDGE subscription, please check out the Sabre EDGE Sign Up and Information Page. If you're already on board as an EDGE subscriber, click the links below to catch up on recruiting.

Recent recruiting updates on The Sabre ...

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   More Hoo News

Around the World of Wahoo Sports ...

  • Hoos Upset Maryland, Fall At Syracuse: The Virginia women's basketball team (10-10, 3-4 ACC) fell to Syracuse in a game in which both teams erased double-digit deficits. On Thursday, Kelsey Wolfe scored 24 points and Ataira Franklin and Faith Randolph each scored 19 as Virginia dumped No. 6 Maryland and ended the Terrapins' 14-game winning streak with an 86-72 victory.
  • Virginia Student-Athletes Post High Academic Performance for Fall 2013: Student-athletes who compete for Virginia's athletics programs recorded a superlative academic performance during the Fall 2013 semester. The overall GPA for UVa's 667 student-athletes last semester was 3.0. This was the highest overall GPA recorded for Virginia student-athletes in the last decade. A total of 82 percent of UVa's student-athletes earned a GPA of 2.5 or better with 53 percent recording a mark of 3.0 or better.
  • No. 13 Virginia Falls 25-9 at No. 8 Pittsburgh: The No. 13 Virginia wrestling team dropped a 25-9 dual to No. 8 Pittsburgh on Friday. Seven of the 10 weight classes were determined by two points or fewer.
  • Virginia Swimming and Diving Sweeps Duke, Splits At North Carolina: The Virginia men’s and women’s swimming and diving meet at ACC rival North Carolina came down to the final relay in both meets Saturday with the No. 9 Cavalier women (9-1) prevailing over the No. 7 Tar Heels, 152-146, while the No. 20 UVa men (5-4) fell to No. 16 UNC, 154-145. The teams swept Duke on Friday. The Cavalier women defeated the Blue Devils 187.5-98.5, while the UVa men were victorious, 178-119.
  • Cavaliers Conclude Strong Performance at Rod McCravy Meet: The Virginia men's and women's track & field teams concluded its first two-day meet of the season Saturday with the second day of the Rod McCravy Memorial Meet at the Nutter Field House. Virginia set three freshman records and had nine all-time top-10 performances at the meet.
  • Men's Tennis Downs Boston College and Navy: The top-ranked Virginia men's tennis team concluded its opening weekend of the season by sweeping a Sunday doubleheader at the Boyd Tinsley Courts at the Boar's Head Sports Club. The Cavaliers (4-0, 1-0 ACC) downed Boston College 7-0 in their ACC opener before topping Navy 8-0 in the evening.
  • UVa Tennis Meet the Team Night Rescheduled for Jan. 29: The Virginia men's and women's tennis teams' annual Meet the Team Night has been rescheduled due to inclement weather. The free event has been moved to Wednesday, Jan. 29 and will run from 6-8 p.m. at the Boar's Head Sports Club.


To read the full stories or gather more information on Virginia athletics, check out Virginiasports.com.

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