Q&A with Treat Huey

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Virginia senior tennis player Treat Huey won the clinching match in the Cavaliers’ 4-1 victory over Ohio State in the ITA National Team Indoor final last week. This week, he and the Cavaliers host No. 5 Texas and No. 11 Baylor. He caught up with VirginiaSports.com to look back at the Cavaliers’ title in Seattle and to preview this week’s matches.

Question: You have the final two non-conference matches of the regular season this weekend. How is the team preparing for these matches?
Huey: We will definitely be working hard this week. The matches will likely be outdoors so we had our first outdoor practice on Monday. Everybody looked good out there. It can sometimes be a tough adjustment, but everybody has done a good job. It shouldn’t be too hard for us and we will be ready for a couple of tough teams this weekend.

Question: You mentioned that the team had its first outdoor practice of the year on Monday. How is a team that has had so much indoor success adjust to moving outdoors?
Huey: We just need to get used to it. Monday, the wind wasn’t bad and it wasn’t too cold. I think our team is even better outdoors. We are excited to get out here and play some outdoor tennis.

Question: How eager is the team to play Texas and Baylor this weekend, two teams that you lost to on the road last season?
Huey: We will be thinking about that all week and that will definitely motivate us. Baylor really took it to us last year, 6-1, and Texas, even though it was 4-3, it wasn’t that close. We will definitely be looking for some payback this season.

Question: How much confidence does it give you playing a pair of top-10 caliber teams this weekend that you won National Indoors, a tournament that both Texas and Baylor were in the field?
Huey: We have a lot of confidence. We are all playing great tennis and just need to keep rolling. Last weekend, we followed up National Indoors with a pair of good wins against Old Dominion and Boston College and feel like we are getting better with each practice and each match.

Question: You clinched the championship match at National Indoors against Ohio State. As a senior who has helped Virginia get so close to winning a national title in previous years, how special was it to be the one to seal the first in school history?
Huey: It was amazing. It didn’t really come down to me, but with how the other matches were going, it felt like it did. Coming through with the win was an unbelievable feeling. Then to have the team rush on the court to congratulate me was great. I have been working for over the past four years here, to be a part of something like that. Now we need to continue to work hard so we can hopefully have that feeling again after the outdoor season.

Question: With the end of the non-conference schedule this weekend, how has playing so many tough non-conference matches helped prepare the team for the ACC season, and later on, the postseason?
Huey: It is definitely great to play a tough non-conference schedule. It is one of the reasons I came to Virginia, because I knew we would always be playing against the best teams and best players. It really helps you play at a higher level yourself. I think we will be so prepared to play the rest of the season because we have already had so many tough matches this year.