The Virginia volleyball team (17-4, 1-4 ACC) demonstrated a great deal of heart and effort in game three, but their slow start proved to be too much to overcome, as they fell to ACC rival North Carolina (13-5, 4-1) 3-0last night.
"We just came out unprepared in games one and two," senior libero Whitney Ashcraft said. "We came out too late -- the third game is just too late to pull it out."
Senior outside hitter Paige Davis led the Cavaliers with 13 kills, and junior middle Alexis Geocaris led the team with a .368 hitting percentage. Ashcraft posted 16 digs in the match to lead all players.
But Virginia could not find a way to take control of any of last night's three games, as the Tar Heels, led by junior outside hitter Molly Pyles' 20 kills, were too much to handle.
"North Carolina is just an amazing opponent," Ashcraft said. "They are always fighting hard and are 100 percent every ball. That's what makes them a great team."
Virginia lost the first two games by respective scores of 30-22 and 30-23 but came out after the break looking more determined and ready to play their best. With the loud home crowd cheering them on, the Cavaliers took the first three points of game three and led the game at one point by a score of 10-5. The Tar Heels, however, composed themselves and won many hard-fought points, eventually tying the game at 14. The game was tied 10 times after that, but in the end, North Carolina was able to secure game three with a 32-30 victory and consequently take the match.
"North Carolina took it to us," coach Melissa Aldrich Shelton said. "They wanted the win, and they were able to execute better than us."
Virginia's aggressive play in the third game represented how Shelton would like the team to play consistently.
"The third game was do or die," Shelton said. "We needed to step it up. We came out on fire, but it still wasn't enough. If we could have come out like that in game one and battled like that for five games, we had a chance. But we are not comfortable starting out hard."
Davis also expressed the need for her team to play their hardest from the start.
"From the beginning, we didn't come out with the kind of effort we needed," Davis said. "We have the skills, but everything else wasn't there. For the third game we picked it up, but that was something we had to do from the beginning."
All of the Cavaliers' defeats this season have come against ACC teams. The Cavaliers went into last night's contest coming off a pair of conference road losses this past weekend to Clemson and Georgia Tech. However, Virginia still has several chances to prove themselves in the ACC, as the match against North Carolina was the first of a four-match conference homestand at Memorial Gym.
"We're really excited to play this weekend, especially at home, and both of the teams we play later this week we can beat," Ashcraft said of the upcoming matches against Florida State and NC State. "If we play our game, we can beat any team in this conference."
The Cavaliers will host FSU Friday at 7:00 p.m.
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