Virginia Volleyball Beats Florida State in Five Sets for First ACC Win

The Cavaliers defeated the Seminoles in a five-set thriller to capture their first ACC win since September 26th, 2021

Matt Riley/Virginia Athletics

It required a hard-fought comeback and a five-set thriller, but for the first time since September 26th, 2021, the Virginia volleyball team defeated an ACC opponent. 

After falling behind 2-1, the Cavaliers rallied to win sets four and five to beat the Seminoles 21-25, 30-28, 11-25, 25-22, 15-12, capturing their first ACC victory of the season on Friday night at Memorial Gymnasium.

Virginia raced out to a 15-6 lead in the opening set behind strong early hitting from Grace Turner and Abby Tadder. The Cavaliers led 17-8, but the Seminoles staged a furious comeback, winning 11 of the next 12 points to take the lead. UVA was unable to regain momentum and FSU took the first set 25-21. 

The second set was a closely-contested affair with neither team leading by more than three points. Florida State had four set points, needing to clinch only one of them to secure a commanding 2-0 lead in the match. Instead, behind three kills from Grace Turner and one from Brooklyn Borum, the UVA denied each of the four set points. After squandering their first chance to win the set at 28-27, the Cavaliers came back and won the set on an ace by Madison Morey to even the match at 1-1. 

The third set got out of hand quickly with the Seminoles building a 14-4 lead and cruising to an easy 25-11 victory behind a .480 team hitting percentage and eight errors from the Cavaliers. 

The Hoos bounced back from their struggles in the third set and used four service aces to build a strong 18-10 lead to start the fourth. Florida State responded with five-consecutive points, determined to make Virginia work for the set. After FSU narrowed the gap to 20-18, the Cavaliers scored four-straight points as Abby Tadder registered three-consecutive kills followed by a block to make it 24-18. The Seminoles did not roll over, though, defending four of those set points before UVA was finally able to clinch the set on a kill from Grace Turner to force the deciding fifth set. 

Twice in ACC play this season, the Cavaliers had gone to a fifth set only to lose in heartbreaking fashion as they searched for their first ACC victory. This time, the Hoos would not be denied. 

Florida State scored three of the first four points of the fifth set, but Virginia responded well before the set got out of hand. Kills from Veresia Yon and Mary Shaffer and an ace from Madison Morey helped the Cavaliers go up 13-8. FSU rattled off three-straight points to make it 13-11, before committing a service error to give UVA a match point. Audrey Koenig recorded her team-leading 17th kill of the match to fend off one of the match points, but then her swing on the next point went long and Memorial Gymnasium went wild as Virginia celebrated its first ACC win in over a year. 

Abby Tadder led the Cavaliers with 18 kills to just three errors and also had four blocks. Grace Turner had an impressive statline of 15 kills, five digs, three aces, and two blocks. Brooklyn Borum added 12 digs and four aces and Gabby Easton was steady at the setter spot with 35 assists and seven digs. 

Virginia snapped a seven-match losing streak with the win and improved to 9-9 overall and 1-6 in ACC play. The Cavaliers will look to make it two in a row on Sunday at 1pm when they host Miami at Mem Gym. 

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

Facebook: @CavaliersNow
Twitter: @CavaliersNowFN