Third-Seeded Cavaliers Head to Georgia for NCAA Championships

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ATHENS, Ga. – The third-seeded Virginia men’s tennis team begins play at the 2012 NCAA Championships on Friday as men’s round of 16 play is held at the Dan Magill Tennis Center on the campus of the University of Georgia. The Cavaliers (26-1) will play No. 14 seed California (14-11) in a match beginning at 4 p.m. Links to NCAA live scoring and streaming video are available by clicking here.

The Cavaliers are making their ninth consecutive trip to the NCAA Round of 16, tied for the third-longest active streak nationally (behind UCLA and Baylor; tied with Georgia). Virginia has advanced to the quarterfinals in each of the past seven seasons. Last season the Cavaliers fell in the final 4-3 to USC after semifinal appearances in 2007, 2008 and 2010. In six of the last seven seasons, the Cavaliers have lost to the eventual NCAA Champion.

Virginia advanced to the round of 16 with a pair of wins last weekend in the Charlottesville regional. The Cavaliers downed Fairleigh Dickinson in the first round and VCU in the second round, both by 4-0 scores. Virginia enters the round of 16 riding a 19-match winning streak.

The round of 16 match against Cal will be the first-ever meeting between the schools. It marks the first time since 2005 that Virginia’s NCAA Round of 16 contest will not be a rematch of a regular season match.

The winner of the Virginia-Cal match will play the winner of the Kentucky-Stanford match in the quarterfinals. That match would be on Sunday at 4 p.m.