Virginia Volleyball Sweeps Virginia Tech in Commonwealth Clash

Matt Newton | Nov 8, 2024

Virginia Athletic

That's another point to the Virginia Cavaliers in the 2024-2025 Commonwealth Clash.

After rallying from behind to beat Virginia Tech in a five-set thriller on Wednesday night at Mem Gym, UVA traveled to Blacksburg for a quick rematch. This time, the Cavaliers left no doubt, taking down the Hokies on their home floor in straight sets on Friday afternoon at Cassell Coliseum.

Virginia swept the season series with Virginia Tech and extended UVA's lead in the 2024-2025 Commonwealth Clash to 5-0.

In Wednesday's match in Charlottesville, the Hokies took the first set in a close 26-24 decision, but Virginia answered quickly with a strong 25-16 win in set 2. The next set went to Virginia Tech 25-19, but UVA again had a response, winning the fourth 25-17 to send the match to a deciding fifth set. Virginia's momentum from the fourth carried into the fifth as the Hoos crushed the Hokies 15-8 to claim the match.

Virginia Tech transfer Elayna Duprey led the way for the Cavaliers with 13 kills and eight digs, while Abby Tadder had 12 kills and six blocks. Ashley Le had 21 assists and Zoey Dood had 19 assists.

The rematch in Blacksburg less than 48 hours later was significantly less competitive. Virginia jumped out to a 22-14 lead in the first set, and though Virginia Tech clawed back to make it a two-point game at 23-21, UVA held on and Brooklyn Borum and Kate Dean teamed up for a block to clinch the 25-21 win.

Set 2 followed a similar pattern with the Cavaliers building leads of 5-0, 10-4, and 16-9 before the Hokies managed to trim the deficit again to just two points at 20-18. UVA then answered by ending the set on a 5-1 run, with Borum punctuating the set with an ace.

In the third set, there was no comeback from Virginia Tech. The Cavaliers got off to a strong start and never looked back, cruising to a dominant 25-13 win to seal the sweep for Virginia. UVA has won the last six matches against Virginia Tech and leads the all-time series with the Hokies 43-40.

UVA registered a .386 hitting percentage as a team and limited its service errors to just five, while posting 55 kills as compared to just 33 kills for Virginia Tech. Lauryn Bowie led the Cavaliers with 13 kills and freshman Becca Wight had her best performance of the season, recording 10 kills. Ashley Le had 21 assists and Zoey Dood had 17 assists. Abby Tadder and Kate Dean had eight kills apiece and combined for six blocks from the middle position.

With the win, Virginia improves to 19-6 overall and 9-5 in ACC play. The Cavaliers are off to their best start since 2003, have won 19 games for the first time since 2006, and have won nine ACC games for the first time since 2015.

Up next, Virginia heads to the West Coast for a pair of matches against the conference's newest members. UVA will play at No. 6 Stanford on Thursday at 10pm ET (ACC Network Extra) and at California on Friday at 10pm ET (ACC Network Extra).