The last day of March brings us one of the biggest matches of the year as No. 1 Wake Forest hosts No. 3 Virginia in a match that will hopefully be played outdoors if the rain clears out in time. The match was originally scheduled to be the last USTA College MatchDay event of the year but unfortunately the broadcast had to be cancelled due to the uncertainty of the weather which is calling for rain up until about 4 p.m. I’ll be in Winston-Salem this afternoon and am hoping to see outdoor tennis even if the start time has to be delayed a few hours. 

The Big 12 kicks of its conference schedule on Friday evening with a pair of gems as No. 6 Texas travels to Norman to play No. 13 Oklahoma while a resurgent No. 16 TCU goes to Stillwater to play No. 8 Oklahoma State. I am expecting Andrew Harris to be back in the lineup for OU so it’ll be interesting to see how he plays after missing the last month and a half. 

In Pac-12 men’s action both No. 5 USC and No. 10 UCLA welcome in No. 23 Oregon and No. 32 Washington. Oregon is off to one of its best starts in program history and will be looking to pull off an upset so it’ll be interesting to see if they can do it. 

There aren’t any top 25 matchups in the Big Ten however there are several that are appealing. Both No. 19 Northwestern and No. 28 Illinois go on the road to play No. 30 Wisconsin and No. 33 Minnesota while No. 18 Michigan makes a swing through Indiana to play Indiana and Purdue. 

The SEC has a loaded women’s schedule as always with the Arkansas at Kentucky match possibly the best one of them all. The highest profile men’s match will also take place in Lexington as Kentucky hosts Florida. 

This weekend is the beginning of the Ivy League conference schedule with the big one taking place in New York City between No. 20 Cornell and No. 25 Columbia. This will be the first time in over 40 years that two top 25 Ivy League teams will square off and with both favored to win the rest of its matches the winner of this one will likely determine the regular season Ivy League Champion. 

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Even though Wake Forest has the higher ranking I think the majority would consider Virginia as the clear favorite because after all the Cavaliers are the only team in D1 that has yet to lose. I think the doubles point is an absolute must for Wake and I think they get it with wins at 1 and 2. Without knowing the exact singles lineups it’s a little tough to predict each spot but if I go off my projections I’d say Wake’s best path to three more points will probably come at No. 2, No. 3, and No. 6. I like Thai-Son Kwiatkowski against anyone and I don’t see JC Aragone or Henrik Wiersholm losing either. The home court advantage should help Wake but I don’t quite think it’ll be enough and I look for Virginia to pull it out with or without Carl Soderlund in the lineup. Prediction: Virginia 4-3 

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