The Virginia women's volleyball team only has one thing on its mind: attack.
Namely, attack the opposing team by spreading their offense -- in turn creating holes in the defense -- and capitalize by turning those openings into points. In a sense, the Cavaliers are hoping to reverse the common adage that "defense wins championships," by using their offense to set up their defense.
"By getting the ball to a bunch of different people it confuses the blocker on the other team." senior middle Alexis Geocaris said. "So if everyone's hitting well it's a lot harder to for them to stop anybody at all."
Yet even the players will admit that to fully attack an opposing team's defense, the key is to start with the basics.
"Most of [running the offense] is up to Emily [Kirkwood], our setter, but passing helps," sophomore outside hitter Lindsay Osco said. "So if we pass well, she's more able to spread the ball out to other hitters. It starts with passing."
This season's version of the Cavaliers relies heavily on youth with only two seniors on the 14-woman roster. At last week's tournament in Louisville, Ky. freshman libero/outside hitter Melissa Caldwell and outside hitter Sarah Kirkwood both earned All-Tournament honors. Kirkwood also earned ACC Player of the Week honors. Her older sister Emily, who is a sophomore, is the team's only returning setter, a testament to the youth of the Virginia squad.
Entering this weekend's Jefferson Cup Tournament, the Cavaliers will have the home-court advantage, facing off against Radford University, Duquesne University and the University of Pennsylvania. They'll kick off the three-game set with a doubleheader against Radford and Duquesne today with the first game starting at 1 p.m.
As is usually the case in volleyball, controlling momentum and tempo of the match should be key, especially with rally scoring.
"We just have to play very consistent volleyball." Virginia coach Melissa Shelton said. "We have to control the ball and we have to keep diversifying our offense."
Diversifying the offense should be particularly important against Penn, which has emerged as an Ivy League powerhouse, winning the league title for the past three years. Coupled with three consecutive appearances in the NCAA tournament and a 60-19 overall record over that span, the Quakers have an impressive resume.
Yet unlike the Cavaliers, whose season started a week and a half ago, the Jefferson Cup will be Penn's first appearance of the season. The team lost three starters from last year's squad.
"Penn has led the Ivy League in digs per game for a long time," Shelton said. "They're going to be out for us when we play them on Saturday, so we have to really focus. We want to win all three matches, and our goal is to win the tournament."
The other two teams participating in the tournament go into it with less prestigious pedigrees. Radford enters the tournament with a 2-2 overall record and looks to hold serve against their in-state rival, while Duquesne comes into the weekend with a 3-2 record.
To keep the Jefferson Cup here in the Piedmont, Virginia will focus on using their offense to counter the defensive-minded challengers of their opponents.
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