Virginia Volleyball Goes 2-1 at Gators Invitational

UVA volleyball defeated ETSU and North Florida and lost to Florida this weekend in Gainesville

Virginia Athletics

The 2022 Virginia volleyball season officially got underway this weekend as the Cavaliers competed in the Gators Invitational at Florida, where head coach Shannon Wells served on the coaching staff for seven years before coming to UVA. Virginia played three matches on the weekend and turned in a 2-1 record to start the season, defeating East Tennessee State (ETSU) and North Florida before falling to No. 15 Florida on Saturday night. 

Here's a brief recap of all three of UVA's matches at the Gators Invitational:

Friday (8/26): Virginia 3, ETSU 1

Virginia took the first two sets after hitting .400 and .333 in sets one and two, respectively. ETSU bounced back to take the third set by committing only two errors in the set, but then Virginia sealed the victory with an 18-kill fourth set to win 25-21, 25-14, 15-25, 25-21.

Abby Tadder had career-high 14 kills and five blocks to lead the Cavaliers, while also hitting .591 on an extremely efficient night. Grace Turner added to the offensive firepower with 13 kills and two aces. Wake Forest transfer Chloe Wilson didn’t take long to establish herself with a well-rounded match of nine kills and three blocks as she hit .583.

Ashley Le had 28 assists and Gabby Easton had 19, pacing a team that had 14 more assists than ETSU in the contest. Mattison Matthews had seven blocks, a match-high. Finally, Madison Morey had an impressive 26 digs in the match, which was a career-high for her.

Saturday (8/27): Virginia 3, North Florida 0

The Cavaliers came out on top in three close sets to sweep North Florida, 25-23, 25-21, 25-22 while hitting .272 in the match.

Jayna Francis registered back-to-back kills to clinch a hard-fought opening set. UVA built a lead as large as six in the second set thanks to strong hitting form Chloe Wilson and Abby Tadder. In the third set, Virginia fell behind early and trailed 12-8 midway through, but managed to climb back into the set and overtake North Florida before Francis put the match away with a pair of late kills once again. 

Francis paced the Cavaliers with 13 kills and Chloe Wilson added ten. Abby Tadder had eight kills and three blocks and Ashley Le had 24 assists.

Saturday (8/27): Florida 3, Virginia 0

After two invitational wins, Virginia fell to the host, No. 15 Florida 11-25, 7-25, 18-25 in front of a loud and packed house at the Exactech Arena. Florida hit an astonishing .521 as a team and was firing on all cylinders, nearly doubling the number of kills the Cavaliers had (43-24). After losing the first two sets by a wide margin, UVA hung around with the Gators in the third and gave them a run for their money. Florida is a top team for a reason, so seeing the Cavaliers keep pace in the third set is a great sign for things to come. 

Mary Shaffer had six kills and Madison Morey and Grace Turner each had five digs in the final match of the invitational. For the Gators, Marina Markova had 14 kills and setter Alexis Stucky had 33 assists and five service aces.

Jayna Francis and Abby Tadder were UVA’s two representatives on the All-Tournament team. Unfortunately, Francis also went down with a knee injury during the first set of the match against Florida and did not return. 

After a solid 2-1 start to the season, Virginia will be on the road for another tournament next weekend. UVA will compete in the Xavier Tournament in Cincinnati and is set to face Xavier, Purdue Fort Wayne, and Eastern Michigan. 

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