Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics
UVA Volleyball Goes 2-1 in Home Tournament, Off to Best Start Since 2004
Virginia volleyball has come out firing on all cylinders this season, with an 8-3 non-conference record to show for it, UVA's best start since 2004. The Cavaliers faced East Carolina, Mercer, and Maryland at Memorial Gymnasium over the weekend and finished 2-1 overall.
Friday (9/16) - Virginia 3, East Carolina 1
The Cavaliers kicked off their home tournament with a win against the East Carolina Pirates (25-14, 24-26, 25-15, 25-16) on Friday afternoon.
In the first set, the two teams were tied at nine before the Cavaliers went on a 6-0 run with Brooklyn Borum at the service line. Borum recorded two aces and Chloe Wilson added two kills in the run. The Hoos also went on a 5-0 run to close out the set.
After dropping the second set and hitting .167 as a team, Virginia bounced back to hit .312 in the third set and take a 2-1 lead. Abby Tadder had four kills and hit 1.000 in the set.
Finally, the Cavaliers closed out the fourth set with ease, using five kills from Chloe Wilson, who had an impressive match with 15 kills on 25 swings, and hit .480 from the right side. Grace Turner added 12 kills and ten digs, and Abby Tadder and Mary Shaffer had ten kills apiece. Both Ashley Le and Gabby Easton finished with 27 assists, and helped the Cavaliers hit .314 overall.
Friday (9/16) - Virginia 3, Mercer 2
Virginia kept up a recent trend of five-set thrillers on Friday night against Mercer, squeaking out the win 25-21, 12-25, 25-17, 21-25, 15-12 in Memorial Gymnasium despite hitting .169 as a team for the match.
Grace Turner and Abby Tadder both had four kills in the first set, before the Cavaliers committed 12 errors and hit -0.097 in the second set. GG Carvacho helped right the momentum during the third set, hitting .500 with four kills, and the Cavaliers used a 11-3 run in the beginning of set three to take a 14-5 lead.
After a closely fought fourth set that Mercer won, it was time for set five. The Cavaliers put together a few small serving streaks that were three or four points at a time, including two aces for Gabby Easton and three kills from Chloe Wilson in the set. Mercer hung around and brought the score to 13-12, but that’s when Chloe Wilson had her final kill and then a Mercer attack error sealed the victory for the Cavaliers.
Grace Turner had 17 kills and eight digs in her usual multifaceted game. Chloe Wilson completed her successful two-match day with eight kills. Middle hitter Veresia Yon was a new name in the stats after not playing in a lot of matches, but she made her time count with seven kills and seven blocks.
Saturday (9/17) - Maryland 3, Virginia 0
The Maryland Terrapins broke UVA's momentum of two tournament wins, as the Cavaliers fell 19-25, 20-25, 21-25 on Saturday.
The Maryland block was all over the place in set one, with six total team blocks that caused the Cavaliers to hit -0.036. It was a similar story in set two after five Terrapin blocks, but the Cavaliers held their own with four team blocks, and Ashley Le paced the Hoos with five digs in set two.
Virginia kept it close through the entire third set behind Brooklyn Borum’s four kills and a service ace, but the Cavaliers fell short of extending the match.
Grace Turner had eight kills and Brooklyn Borum had six in the match. Turner and Chloe Wilson were named to the all-tournament team for the Cavaliers after the 2-1 weekend performance. Virginia’s current 8-3 record is the program’s best start since 2004.
Virginia will begin ACC play next weekend, hosting NC State on Friday night and North Carolina on Sunday afternoon.
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