April 21, 2001

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The Terrapins head to Charlottesville, Va., for another all-important conference match-up with the Virginia Cavaliers. Maryland, winner of 19 of its last 22 games, looks to improve upon its .500 ACC/SASA record against the Cavaliers in a meeting crucial to both squads' postseason hopes.

Maryland improved to 34-14 on the season with a doubleheader sweep of George Mason and a split with ACC-rival Georgia Tech last weekend. The Terps, riding the longest win streak in school history, steamrolled over the Patriots for the third and fourth times in 2001, burying GMU under 18 hits and 13 runs. Game 1's shutout victory was the sixth straight Terp win in which the Maryland pitching staff did not allow a run, and the fourth in a row for ACC Pitcher of the Week Amanda Bettker (St. Petersburg, Fla.). The second contest featured the eighth home run of the season from powerful catcher Beth Radford (Dunkirk, Md.), and the first from stalwart shortstop Jennifer Potzman (Trexlertown, Pa.).

The Terps won their 13th game in a row, a 2-0 decision over Georgia Tech, on the strength of ACC Co-Player of the Week Monica Cyphert's (Warren, Ohio) second collegiate home run. Maryland's Game 2 rally fell just short as the Yellow Jackets used early momentum to give the Terps a 1-1 conference slate.

Terps Earn Spot In NCAA Regional Rankings
The Terrapins' winning ways have not gone unnoticed, as Maryland was listed among the ranked teams of the extremely competitive NCAA South Region. According to the NCAA's March 29 release, the Terps join five of their fellow South Atlantic Softball Alliance in the regional poll. The Terrapins are 3-2 on the season thus far against South regionally ranked teams, and will face conference rivals Virginia, North Carolina, East Carolina and Florida State in doubleheaders before the season concludes.

The order of the rankings are not released. The following is an alphabetical listing with each team's record and result vs. the Terps.

South Region Team   Record   vs. Maryland
Campbell            28-24    do not play
East Carolina       41-18    at College Park (4/29)
Florida Atlantic    38-17    W, 4-1 (2/24)
Florida State       45-7     W, 5-3 (2/24), at Tallahassee (M5)
Maryland            34-14    --------------
North Carolina      28-17    at College Park (4/28)
UNC-Greensboro      28-19    do not play
Tenn-Chattanooga    39-15    L, 0-1 (3/11)
Troy State          32-18    L, 4-5 (3/16), L, 1-8 (3/23)
Virginia            43-13    at Charlottesville (4/22)

Focusing On The Conference Picture
The ACC/SASA portion of each team's schedule is in full swing, and every game matters. With an automatic NCAA tournament bid awarded to the regular season conference champion, all of the SASA squads look to step up in key meetings this weekend.

Four teams, including the Terrapins, own a .500 SASA record. The league's first place Florida State Seminoles battle with one of those squads, East Carolina, in a doubleheader in Tallahassee on Saturday. The Pirates are coming off a Wednesday split with North Carolina, who plays a pair at Georgia Tech this weekend.

Meanwhile, the Terrapins take on the Cavaliers, who face the Pittsburgh Panthers in a non-conference twinbill on Saturday. Both the Terps and Cavs face FSU later in the season.

Scouting Virginia: Hoos Who On The Cavaliers
The Virginia Cavaliers enter this weekend's action with a 43-13 overall and 3-3 conference record. The Wahoos square off against Pittsburgh before meeting the Terrapins this weekend in the ACC/SASA match-up.

Virginia is experiencing a tremendous upswing after finishing the 2000 season with a 27-38 record. Much of the credit goes to the Cavalier offense, which combines for a gaudy .291 team batting average to rank second in the ACC. Senior Kristen Dennis leads the charge for UVa in the batter's box and on the mound, with a .394 batting average and a 13-5 record. The ACC's top rated hitter leads the conference in six other offensive categories, including home runs, RBI and slugging percentage. Her 1.16 ERA ranks seventh in the league and her 9.7 strikeouts per game is tops in the conference as well. Freshman Heather Field has driven in 32 runs and joins four other teammates with batting averages over .300.

Head coach Cheryl Sprangel is in her fourth season at Virginia and seventeenth year as a head coach. Her Cavaliers look to improve on their 3-5 ACC record from a season ago.

The Terrapins trail in the all-time series 5-10, splitting a doubleheader last season in College Park.

Maryland attempts to pick up its first-ever sweep at The Park in Charlottesville and improve its position in ACC/SASA conference standings.

Terrapins' Hottest Streak
There is no question that the Terrapins have been hot in the last four weeks. But did you know that the Terps were on the hottest streak in school history before Maryland's second-game loss to Georgia Tech, having accumulated a school-record 13 consecutive wins. Maryland looks to stay hot this weekend at the home of the Hoos.

The previous longest win streak came in 1999 when the Terps won nine in a row.

Streak	Dates
13      March 28 - April 15, 2001
9       April 9 - 24, 1999
7       Feb. 14 - 21, 1999
7       March 24 - 28, 1999
6       Four Times

2001 ACC Standings
                     ACC       Overall
Team	            W  L     W   L   T
No. 16 Florida St.  3  1    45	 7   0
Virginia	    2  2    43	13   0
Maryland	    1  1    34	14   0
North Carolina	    2  2    28	17   1
Georgia Tech	    2  4    23	24   0

2001 SASA Standings
                    SASA       Overall
Team	            W  L     W   L   T
No. 16 Florida St.  3  1    45	 7   0
Virginia	    3  3    43  13   0
East Carolina	    2  2    41	18   0
Maryland	    1  1    34	14   0
North Carolina	    3  3    28	17   1
Georgia Tech	    2  4    23	24   0