The Virginia women's volleyball team has had a dream week, snagging a tournament victory at the Tiger Classic and pummeling in-state foe James Madison.
Coming home to host this weekend's Jefferson Cup Tournament, the Cavaliers are pumped up and ready to step on the new squeaky clean court of Memorial Gymnasium in the hopes of continuing their winning streak.
The early season successes the Cavaliers have enjoyed this opening week have been a refreshing change from years past. This year is the best start Virginia has experienced since the 1999 season.
That alone, however, is not enough to satisfy the hungry Cavalier squad as they downplay their recent success and instead set their sights on bigger goals for the future.
"We are a very strong team," Virginia coach Melissa Aldrich Shelton said. "The way we have started out the season is not a shock to anyone on this team."
Looking forward, Virginia still will focus on individual games and take one point at a time. In the first game of the tournament, Virginia will face Liberty tonight at 7 p.m.
"Liberty will be a tough team," Aldrich Shelton said. "They compete for their conference title every year and they've gone to the NCAA tournament more times than we have."
Campbell University will be next on the Cavaliers' list of opponents. Virginia will take on the Camels, which should be a solid warm-up before Virginia takes on a more challenging George Mason squad that evening. Campbell remains winless thus far, but Virginia should expect George Mason pose a challenge. The Patriots are a capable team looking to compete for this season's NCAA title. But Virginia's players have said they are not too worried about the opposition, instead choosing to focus on their own play.
"We're really going to concentrate on our side of the court," senior outside hitter Paige Davis said. "We have a lot of great chemistry and we're looking to continue that."
Virginia will be looking to players like Davis to lead the way to a tournament title. Davis was named the MVP of last weekend's Tiger Classic, racking up 33 kills and boasting a .388 hitting average.
The Cavaliers also will look to see big things from sophomore outside hitter Kristin Chaney over the weekend. Chaney was named to the all-tournament team last weekend and set a career high 10 kills in Tuesday's match against James Madison. Defensive specialist senior Whitney Ashcraft is expected to maintain her reliably solid presence on the court.
In addition to Virginia's winning record and high spirits, the newly revamped Memorial Gymnasium should give the Cavaliers a boast of its own. In years past the Cavaliers have held their practices at Mem Gym, but played their home games in University Hall, which is oversized for such an event.
Now the team has a more suitable setting, which can be used to their advantage.
"Friday will be an emotional day," Ashcraft said."Hopefully we'll get a lot of fans and the girls will understand the kind of emotional lift our new court can give us."
The Cavaliers have tasted success and this win-starved program is hungry for more.
If they have it their way, a few teams will be served up fresh out of the oven of Mem Gym come this weekend.
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