The Virginia volleyball team has finally come home after spending the last four seasons at University Hall. The Cavaliers began play in the newly-renovated Memorial Gym as they hosted the Liberty Flames, George Mason Patriots and Campbell Camels in the 2003 Jefferson Cup Tournament. The homecoming was a successful one, with Virginia coming away with the tournament title.
George Mason started the tournament off Friday night with a 3-0 (30-20, 30-25, 30-23) victory over Campbell. In the later match, Virginia rolled over Liberty, 3-0 (30-26, 30-23, 30-24). Senior Paige Davis and freshman Lindsay Osco led the Cavaliers with 11 and 10 kills, respectively.
Virginia opened up the early session Saturday with a 3-0 (30-15, 30-14, 30-25) victory over Campbell. Davis again led the way for the Cavaliers with 17 kills while junior Alexis Geocaris and senior Shannon Boyle reached double digits in kills with 11 and 10, respectively. In the next match, George Mason needed all five games to defeat Liberty, 3-2 (30-27, 20-30, 33-31, 29-31, 15-6).
Liberty earned its first victory of the tournament in the first match of the late session Saturday night. The Flames defeated Campbell, 3-0 (30-27, 30-16, 30-19) to secure third place in the tournament.
In the later match, Virginia and George Mason, both with 2-0 records in the tournament, played for the tournament title. Early in the match, it appeared the Cavaliers would roll to victory as Virginia won the first two games by 30-26 and 30-24.
The Patriots, however, had other plans.
"We came out ready to play in the first two games," senior co-captain Whitney Ashcraft said. "In the third game, we had a letdown, and they got momentum at the end."
In the third game, the Cavaliers seemed out of sync, while George Mason was able to capitalize on Virginia mistakes to create big plays. The Patriots took that game by a score of 30-19, and the energy carried over into the fourth game of the match. George Mason jumped in front early and forced the Cavaliers to play from behind.
Down 25-18, Virginia refused to go down without a battle. After a furious rally, the Patriots sat on game point with the Cavaliers only one back. Virginia, however, was unable to overcome the deficit and George Mason won the game, 30-28.
"We were just trying to get some momentum back," Virginia coach Melissa Aldrich Shelton said. "It would have been tough to win because they were up so high. Volleyball is a game of momentum and we had it going into the fifth game."
The Cavaliers took that momentum and roared out to an 8-2 lead. But after the teams switched sides, the Patriots fought back to even the score at nine. George Mason took a 12-11 lead as it appeared the momentum had shifted again at the most critical time. But Virginia powered through the next four points to win the tiebreaking fifth game, 15-12, and capture the Jefferson Cup.
Ashcraft was named tournament MVP. She provided rock steady defense with 51 digs over the three-game span. Davis and Osco also earned all-tournament team honors. Aline Pereira and Milena Racic of George Mason, Che Cochrane from Campbell and Becky Rudnick from Liberty rounded out the All-Tournament Team.
With the three-game sweep, the Cavaliers improved to 7-0 on the season to match their second-best start in team history. Next up for Virginia is an intra-state battle with Virginia Tech at Mem Gym Tuesday at 7 p.m.
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