Virginia women’s volleyball team will look to snap a two-game losing streak Friday and make a final push for the NCAA Tournament in a home rivalry matchup against Virginia Tech.
Virginia (15-11, 8-5 ACC) has five regular season games left on its schedule — games it can’t afford to lose. After dropping two games last week to Florida State and Miami, its performance through the remainder of the season will determine if the team earns a bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“As long as we play well for the remaining weeks in the season, I think there’s still a chance for us to make the tournament,” senior middle hitter Morgan Blair said. “We just need to show up and do our part and win the remaining games.”
Winning out, however, starts Friday against Virginia Tech (11-14, 4-8 ACC). Just more than a month ago, the Hokies took the Cavaliers into a fifth game in Blacksburg, but Virginia managed to squeeze out a 3-2 victory after starting out slow.
“We didn’t really play well until the last three sets,” Blair said. “I think we played really well once we did get to that point. I think we just need to start our games strong like that and then we should be able to take care of those games pretty easily.”
Since that last meeting, Virginia Tech has gone 3-4 including an upset against then-ranked No. 21 Duke. The upset highlights a streak, despite the record, in which the Hokies have played well.
“We’re going to have to be good,” coach Dennis Hohenshelt said. “They’re playing extremely well. They’re playing with a lot of confidence, and we’re at home and we have to play with confidence in our own gym.”
Working in favor for the Cavaliers is Virginia Tech’s tendency to struggle on the road. The Hokies are 1-7 on the road this season, with the one win coming in early September against Middle Tennessee, a 9-20 team.
As for Virginia, the team has been strong offensively with senior outside hitter Tori Janowski and junior setter Lauren Fuller leading the way. Janowski leads the team with 320 kills. Fuller, an All-ACC second team selection last season, leads the team with 1,130 assists, a number which ranks third in the ACC this season.
Despite the relative offensive success, the team needs to make some tweaks if it wishes to keep its NCAA tournament hopes alive.
“Our block and defense has to get better,” Hohenshelt said. “Right now offensively, I think we’re OK. We have some people starting to come around offensively. We need to: first, pass the ball and second, we need to start blocking some balls. ... If we can do those two things, then I think we’ll be OK.”
The team is trying to use its two losses last week as learning tools for the final stretch. Against No. 3 Florida State, the Cavaliers managed to win one game against the currently undefeated Seminoles.
“It was hard to come back from a 2-0 deficit in the games,” sophomore defensive specialist Karlie Suber said. “We definitely were fighting with everything we had, but we need to learn how to fight for the whole game instead of fighting when we realize we have to step up.”
The match is set for 7 p.m. Friday in Charlottesville at Memorial Gymnasium.
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