UVA Volleyball Starts Strong, Falters Late in 3-1 Loss to Miami

The Cavaliers took the first set, but were unable to win their second ACC match in a row

Coming off of an electric five-set win against Florida State on Friday night, the Virginia volleyball team looked to win a second-straight ACC match. In the end, the Cavaliers fell short, losing to the Miami Hurricanes in four sets, 25-22, 29-31, 12-25, 7-25.

An 8-2 run for the Cavaliers in the middle of set one helped build a 15-10 lead, but Miami pulled within one to trail just 20-19. The teams traded points on some long rallies before Grace Turner came in clutch with a kill and a block, giving Virginia a set point. Miami then committed an attack error and UVA took the opening set. Turner had an impressive seven kills on 12 swings in set one, and Brooklyn Borum added five digs to help the Cavaliers edge out the Hurricanes.

The second set was extremely even between the two teams, as there were multiple lead changes and no team led by more than three points. UVA fended off three set points by coming back from a 21-24 deficit, and then proceeded to extend the game by defending four more set points for Miami. Veresia Yon had three kills and a block in the set’s final points as a go-to option in crunch time. Finally, the eighth set point proved to be the successful one for Miami, who evened up the score 1-1.

Virginia's inability to complete the comeback at the end of set two proved to be a fatal sequence, as UVA did not come out with the same fervor or sharpness in the third and fourth sets. The Cavaliers were called for being out of rotation early in the third, causing Shannon Wells to use her first timeout after falling behind 2-0. UVA proceeded to fall behind 7-0, forcing Wells to use her second and final timeout of the set. As the Canes continued to dominate the third, Virginia's second-year head coach could do nothing but watch as the match got out of hand. 

After two tightly contested sets, the final two sets were lopsided in favor of Miami, who outscored Virginia 50-19 over those two sets. The Hurricanes hit 0.433 in set three and 0.556 in set four compared to the Cavaliers’ numbers of 0.121 and -0.136, respectively. The Miami block was a factor, with six blocks in the fourth set and 13 blocks in the match.

Grace Turner led the way for Virginia with 16 kills, Chloe Wilson and Abby Tadder both finished with nine kills, and Veresia Yon registered eight kills. Both middle hitters Tadder and Yon hit over 0.300, which shows the Cavaliers were able to run an efficient offense with a lot of touches from the middle. Libero Heyli Velasquez added 15 digs and Gabby Easton had 36 assists, continuing her time as a six-rotation setter.

The Cavaliers fall to 9-10 overall and 1-7 in ACC play, but UVA emerges from the weekend with a conference win in a very tough ACC. Virginia stays at home next weekend and will take on No. 2 Louisville on Friday night and then Notre Dame on Sunday afternoon at Mem Gym.

To stay up to date on all Virginia Cavaliers sports news, follow CavaliersNow on social media:

Facebook: @CavaliersNow
Twitter: @CavaliersNowFN