Despite putting increasing amounts of pressure on rival Maryland in the second and third games of this weekend's match, the Virginia volleyball team was never able to recover from Maryland's domination of the first game. The Cavaliers never held a steady lead in the 3-0 (30-26, 30-23, 30-25) loss to the Terrapins at Memorial Gym Friday.
The defeat drops Virginia's record to 19-5, 3-5 in the ACC, and allows Maryland to retain its No. 2 standing in the league.
Maryland came out strong in the first game, continually leading Virginia. The Cavaliers stepped up the level of play in the second game, however, tying Maryland six times. After the 11-11 tie, the Terrapins scored seven of the next nine points, solidifying their lead for the rest of the game. Virginia struggled offensively, ending the first and second games with a .077 cumulative hitting percentage, in contrast with Maryland's .241 percentage. The Cavalier defense tied Maryland's in sets and digs in the first two games despite allowing several crucial Maryland runs.
After the break, the Cavaliers came out looking much more determined. They battled for the lead throughout the third game, with 16 ties and ten lead changes. Senior outside hitter Paige Davis led the Cavalier offense with five kills in the third game and 11 overall. She also had four block assists and the highest number of points scored. The Virginia defense prevented the Terrapins from making significant runs throughout the third game, but lost control after the 25-25 tie. Maryland scored the last five points consecutively.
Maryland outside hitters Maria DiLivio, Lynnsy Jones and Sarah Treadwell led their team, each finishing with 10 kills and 11 digs. By the end of the third game Maryland had not only maintained their significant lead in hitting percentage with .277 over Virginia's .092, but had squeaked out leads in sets, digs and total team blocks.
Virginia freshman setters Emily Kirkwood and Kathleen Branagh combined for 39 sets and 14 digs. Senior libero Whitney Ashcraft led the team in digs with 16. This moved her into second place for Cavalier all-time digs with 1,392. The all-ACC libero leads the league in digs in 2003 with 416. Senior middle Shannon Boyle had a team-high six block assists.
Virginia coach Melissa Aldrich Shelton praised the middles.
"Together they had their best match of the year," she said.
Aldrich Shelton added that before facing Duke tomorrow the team must focus on executing at the net and being consistently aggressive. Senior outside hitter Paige Davis agreed with her coach.
"We need to combine middle focus and hitting the ball with more power and aggression," Davis said. "We need to transition the hustle and communication we have in practice into the games." Both Davis and Kirkwood said the team executed what they had been working on in practice, which they said may have caused the players to hit more tentatively.
The Cavaliers will face Duke in Durham, N.C. tomorrow. Duke is 6-12, 2-4 ACC. Virginia last faced Duke on Sept. 27 and won 3-2 in Memorial Gym. The past victory doesn't make Aldrich Shelton overly confident, however.
"Now Duke has a consistent line-up that they did not have before," Aldrich Shelton said. "It will be harder than last time and we need to step up the level of play."
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