A former University of Virginia lacrosse player has been sentenced to 23 years in prison Thursday for bludgeoning his ex-girlfriend to death in 2010.

George Huguely, 24, was found guilty by the jury on Feb.22 for second-degree murder and grand larceny in the death of 22-year-old Yeardley Love. Prosecutors said, Love died of blunt force trauma resulting from his slamming of her head against a wall in a drunken rage, reports Reuters.

Circuit Judge Edward Hogshire in Charlottesville, Virginia, sentenced Huguely to 23 years in prison followed by a three-year suspended sentence during which Huguely will be on probation. The judge did not give any additional serving time for grand larceny charge for stealing Love's computer, saying the one-year sentence recommended by the jury would run concurrently with the term for murder, reports Bloomberg.

In his two-week trial Huguely did not testify. But, he apologized Thursday to Love's family: "I hope and pray you find peace."

Love and Huguely were university seniors and played for the university's nationally ranked women's and men's lacrosse teams respectively.

Huguely, a native of Chevy Chase, Maryland was arrested when Love's badly bruised body with her face down on a bloody pillow was discovered by a friend and fellow player who went to her apartment at about 2 a.m. May 3, 2010.

Huguely's family has said in a statement that they still believe that he did not intend to kill Love.

In one of the letters to Love, he blamed his alcoholism to be 'ruining [his] life.' The same hand-written letter also said, 'I'm scared to know that I can get drunk to the point where I can't control how I act.'

Love's family has decided to sue the state and the university alleging that they had failed to properly handle the matter when Huguely attacked one of his teammates while drunk. They are also filing a suit on Huguely.

Following the brutal death of Love, the issue of domestic violence in the campuses came to the foreground and led to a push for federal and state laws expanding reporting requirements and information- sharing between law enforcement agencies, reports Bloomberg.