After eight ties and six lead changes, outside hitter Sarah Kirkwood's kill ended a wild game four, sealing Virginia's 3-1 (35-33, 30-18, 24-30,31-29) victory over rival Virginia Tech in women's volleyball on Saturday.
Virginia Tech had a chance to win the game when it went up 29-28, but another Sarah Kirkwood kill and a Virginia Tech error turned the game in the Cavaliers' favor.
Kirkwood had 24 kills and 14 digs overall, and middle Alexis Geocaris compiled a .550 hitting percentage in addition to 25 kills.
"I'm pretty pleased with my personal performance -- it's a huge rivalry for me; I really wanted to win," Geocaris said. "The team play overall could have been better. We weren't as cohesive as we usually are. I felt there were some lapses in our passing and our offense."
With the victory, Virginia improved to 17-5 overall and 7-5 in the conference. Virginia Tech fell to 11-13 overall and 5-7 in the ACC.
Virginia had a .250 hitting percentage for the match and seven aces. However, the Cavaliers know that they needed to play better and correct their mistakes.
"We won, that's out number one goal," Virginia coach Melissa Aldrich Shelton said. "We could've played better. When we executed we're great, but then our simple things break down -- our serving broke down tonight and we just weren't in the game."
The team did not play very well in game three, as the Cavaliers held the lead only twice at 3-2 and 5-4. They had four service errors in game three and 13 for the match.
"We came out very slow [in game three] -- we just weren't ready." Shelton said. "We thought we had it in the bag. We know that Virginia Tech's a good team, and we can't take things for granted."
Game one, like game four, was close the whole way. With the score tied at 25, Virginia won four out of the next five points to make the score 29-26. Virginia Tech, however, won three straight points to tie it at 29. Following a Cavalier timeout, Virginia saved four consecutive match points. Libero Melissa Caldwell served an ace to break the 33-33 tie. Geocaris then won the game on a kill after digs by outside hitters Kristin Chaney and Lindsey Osco kept the point alive.
"We just needed to calm down and just be patient," Sarah Kirkwood said about the final points of game one. "Don't try to rush into things and don't try to do too much with the ball. Be patient and we'll get a good set where somebody will be able to put the ball away."
Game one was a major confidence booster for game two. Virginia tied the score 4-4 and from there never trailed again, as the team rolled to a 30-18 victory.
"When you win a close game like that, it really give you a lot of momentum," Geocaris said. "We definitely carried it into the next game."
The win marks the Cavaliers' fourth in a row as they work to gain momentum, going into the final part of the season.
"I think it's huge, we're now 7-5 in the ACC," Sarah Kirkwood said. "We're building a lot of confidence with every win, and we feel there's no one in the ACC that we can't beat on a given night."
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