Virginia Volleyball Splits Matches at Jefferson Cup Invitational

UVA volleyball swept Norfolk State 3-0 on Friday night and fell to Wofford 3-1 on Saturday in the second home tournament of the season.

Three weeks after hosting the Cavalier Classic, the Virginia volleyball team was back at home for another tournament. The result was the same, as the team won on opening night but fell in the game of the two winners, ending the weekend 1-1.

Friday 9/15 - Virginia 3, Norfolk State 0

Virginia played incredibly efficient volleyball, hitting .412 as a team and adding 9.5 blocks to earn a sweep over Norfolk State. The first set featured nine different players with kills and that versatility proved key. In a 8-0 run, three different players had kills and two contributed on blocks, giving Virginia a 14-5 lead. Veresia Yon had three kills in four points for Virginia to make the score 19-11. Setter Ashley Le got in on the action as well, with two setter dumps to the middle of the court. For the final points, Lily Gervase contributed to two blocks and had a kill to secure the 25-16 win.

Chloe Wilson and Ciera Hecht were the engines of set two, each having five kills with no errors and hitting .714 and .625, respectively. Virginia had an early lead courtesy of those two as well as some other Cavalier hitters, but Norfolk State went on a 5-0 run to tie the score at 15. After that, it was all Virginia, as the team went on a 6-0 run and a 10-2 run overall to close out the set. Norfolk State couldn’t get itself out of the stretch, so the Cavaliers took the 2-0 lead.

Virginia had 19 digs in set three, including seven from Ciera Hecht and five from Milan Gomillion, as well as a .429 hitting percentage, leading to a 25-15 win. Ciera Hecht also contributed five more kills on ten swings in the set. The Hoos jumped out to a 8-3 lead with Veresia Yon at the service line, and then Ashley Le served as part of a 8-0 run, making the score 16-4. Abby Tadder had four kills and a block in the first 16 points, exerting her dominance in the middle of the court. Norfolk State managed to bring the score within seven points, but Virginia easily closed out set three and secured the sweep.

Ciera Hecht had 12 kills and nine digs to pace Virginia, and Abby Tadder added eight kills and six blocks.

Saturday 9/16 - Wofford 3, Virginia 1

Despite winning the first set in the Saturday afternoon match, Virginia was unable to build from there, falling 3-1 to Wofford. After a close start to the first set, Virginia used a 9-1 run to go from a tie score to a 17-9 lead. From there, the Cavaliers pushed to 25 behind Chloe Wilson’s five kills, Lauryn Bowie’s three, and Milan Gomillion’s eight digs.

In the second set, both teams hit over .300, but Wofford snuck away with the 25-23 win. To say this set was competitive is an understatement, as the biggest lead of three points only occurred once. There were 12 ties and six lead changes, making it thrilling for the fans in attendance. With the score tied at 23, Wofford scored the final two points on two kills to seal the win. Lauryn Bowie and Abby Tadder each had four kills in the set, but Wofford’s .375 hitting percentage was too tough to beat.

The Cavaliers hit -.135 in the third set with 14 attack errors, and Wofford had six blocks, so it was a tough set for Virginia. The set remained close at the beginning, but Wofford had a 9-1 run that was all made up of Virginia errors except for one kill and took a 23-14 lead. A few points later, Wofford secured the 25-15 win.

Virginia played much cleaner volleyball in set four, but Wofford hit .464 en route to the match clinching victory. The Hoos trailed by a few points early on, but a 4-0 run made up of a kill and later an ace from Ciera Hecht helped Virginia trail just 15-14. Wofford responded with four straight points right after, and then continued to move towards 25 points. Virginia tried to challenge a Wofford kill for the 24th point, but after that was unsuccessful, Wofford managed to secure the win. 

Lauryn Bowie had 13 kills to lead all attackers on 30 swings, and Chloe Wilson added 11 kills. Milan Gomillion had 19 digs in the match, and both Wilson and Gomillion were nominated to the All-Tournament team.

Completing non-conference play with a 7-3 record, Virginia begins ACC play next weekend as UVA travels to play at UNC on Friday night and Duke on Sunday afternoon. 

Subscribe to the Cavaliers Now Newsletter to receive UVA sports news in your inbox first thing on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

See more Virginia football news and content: Virginia Football on Sports Illustrated

See more Virginia sports news and content: Virginia Cavaliers on Sports Illustrated

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

Facebook: @CavaliersNow
Twitter: @CavaliersNowFN