Virginia hopes to boost its ACC standings when they travel to Durham, N.C. today to take on the Duke Blue Devils (7-13) on their home court at 7:30 p.m. This is a crucial match, as both teams enter with a record of 3-5 in conference play and are fighting for fifth place in the ACC.
The Cavaliers (19-5) are coming off a 3-0 loss to Maryland and are looking for a conference win. Against Maryland last Friday, the Cavaliers combined for an abysmal hitting percentage of .092, compared to Maryland's .277, and trailed Maryland in kills (48-45), digs (57-52), team blocks (11-9) and aces (3-1).
"In this game [against Maryland], we tried to use different shots from practice so we hit more tentatively," said senior outside hitter Paige Davis, who led the Cavaliers with a match-high 11 kills. "Before the next game we need to work on combining middle focus and hitting the ball with power and aggression."
Junior middle Alexis Geocaris led the Cavaliers with a .438 hitting percentage and recorded nine kills, two blocks and two digs. Senior All-ACC libero Whitney Ashcroft led all players with 16 digs, moving her up to second on the Cavalier all-time career digs list with 1,392. She leads the ACC this year with 416 digs.
In their match tonight, the Cavaliers are facing a Duke team that is coming off a 3-0 victory over NC State. Although Virginia beat Duke in a come from behind victory in their last matchup, the Cavaliers refuse to underestimate the Blue Devils.
"Now Duke has a consistent line-up that they did not have before," coach Melissa Aldrich Shelton said. "It will be harder than the last time, and we need to step up the level of play. We need to become aggressive all the time and work on executing at the net."
Despite Virginia's better overall record, the Blue Devils have matched their conference record, and thus the Cavaliers cannot look past them to their next two games against Wake Forest and Georgia Tech. After their loss to Maryland, the Cavaliers are looking to bounce back with a win over Duke.
"We need to work on having more energy on the court and not letting the other team score runs," freshman setter Emily Kirkwood said.
Kirkwood recorded 21 assists and seven digs against Maryland Friday.
The Cavaliers are fixing their problems in an attempt to return to the type of performance they put forth in the season's first half, when they had a 16-game winning streak, as they finish out their season against ACC opponents and prepare for the upcoming ACC tournament.
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