Virginia Volleyball Places Second at the Cavalier Classic

UVA opened the 2023 volleyball season by sweeping Rider on Friday, but then fell to Rutgers in five sets on Saturday at Mem Gym

After finishing 12-17 in the 2022 season, the Virginia volleyball team kicked off the newest season by hosting the Cavalier Classic, a four-team tournament at Memorial Gymnasium featuring Rider, North Carolina A&T, Rutgers, and UVA. The Hoos swept Rider on Friday night to advance to the championship game, but then fell to Rutgers in five sets to finish 1-1. 

Friday 8/25 - Virginia 3, Rider 0

Virginia cruised past Rider in front of a crowd of over 500 fans to open the season. In the first set, the Cavaliers used a 6-0 run to extend to a 17-6 lead. The Hoos continued to push ahead and led 22-9, ultimately winning the set 25-12. Texas A&M transfer Ciera Hecht started off her career as a Cavalier with a bang, as she had five kills in the first set with a .714 hitting percentage. Veresia Yon had three kills and four blocks as she locked down the middle.

The second set was much closer, as the two teams traded points. Rider pulled within two to make it 19-17, but Abby Tadder responded with three consecutive kills and Chloe Wilson and Ciera Hecht pitched in as well, giving Virginia a 25-20 set victory. Chloe Wilson led her team in the final set, hitting .750 with seven kills. The Hoos had three service aces early to build a 14-6 lead, and then withstood a small comeback to earn the sweep with a 25-17 victory.

Chloe Wilson led all attackers with 13 kills and also contributed four blocks. Ciera Hecht added 11 kills and Abby Tadder had ten kills on an astonishing .909 hitting percentage. Setter Ashley Le had 26 assists and 14 digs, notching a double-double.

Saturday 8/26 - Rutgers 3, Virginia 2

Virginia lost a heartbreaker in the second match of the season, as the team went the distance against Rutgers but ultimately came up short. The offense was well-rounded in the first set for UVA, with six different players registering kills. Ashley Le had 12 assists and 10 digs, earning a double-double in the first set alone. The Cavaliers led most of the set, but never by more than a few points. With things tied at 24, Veresia Yon and Abby Tadder had back-to-back kills from the middle to secure set one.

Abby Tadder had five kills in set two and both teams hit over .200, but Rutgers was cleaner with fewer errors on the serve, receive, set, and attack. Rutgers won 25-22 in the second set, continuing the closely contested match.

Virginia took the lead once again in the third set, hitting .320 as a team with only five attack errors. Ashley Le distributed the offense well to all of her hitters, and four service aces helped continue the momentum, as the 23rd and 25th points were both aces to cap a 6-1 run to end the set. Rutgers tied things up after that, capitalizing on some Cavalier hitting errors and playing efficient volleyball on the other side of the net. After pulling ahead at 14-13, Rutgers didn’t give up the lead again, winning 25-20.

Finally, it all came down to the fifth set. The points were extremely long and intense, but Virginia made four straight attack errors to allow Rutgers to take a 6-4 lead. After a 4-0 run, Virginia had the lead back, but not for long. Rutgers put together three consecutive blocks, shutting down the Cavalier offense with five blocks in the fifth set alone. Virginia had a 14-13 lead with the chance to win, but three straight errors allowed Rutgers to snag the 16-14 win and the match.

While the first five-set match of the 2023 season did not go as planned, this team will be tested in the future and will learn from the mistakes of this one. The Cavaliers hit -0.233 with four kills and 11 errors, not to mention the blocks Rutgers earned.

Abby Tadder finished with 17 kills and four blocks, and Veresia Yon had 12 kills and five blocks, so the middle hitters were huge contributors in the match. Freshman Lauryn Bowie had nine kills and two aces. Ashley Le had 24 digs and libero Milan Gomillion had 21.

After the frustrating loss, the Cavaliers will travel to New York for the Big Apple Tournament with matches against Quinnipiac on Friday at 4pm and Columbia on Saturday at 12pm. Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+. 

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