It almost seemed to defy the laws of physics. Every time Virginia's Sarah Kirkwood went into her high-toss serving motion, the slim 6-foot outside hitter unleashed the force of a 95 mph sinker across the net -- leaving a stunned crowd at the Jefferson Cup volleyball tournament staring in disbelief.
"Sarah has always been a very, very good server, and clearly this weekend was great," Virginia assistant coach Matt Ginipro said. "[Her success] wasn't a shock at all. She's been working very hard at it."
Over the course of last weekend's tournament, Kirkwood was able to turn her wicked serve into one of Virginia's most powerful weapons, notching an amazing 17 aces over three games and helping her team top Appalachian State and Liberty before falling to Albany Saturday.
"I felt like my serving was a lot more on earlier in the tournament," Kirkwood said. "I was a lot more high air [against Albany]. It seems to come through in some clutch situations, though, so I'm just rolling with it."
Alongside Kirkwood, Virginia was guided offensively last weekend by sophomore middle Katie Oakes, who was named to the all-tournament team. Defensively, the Cavaliers were led by the animated play of libero Melissa Caldwell, who paced Virginia in digs while also being the team's most vocal supporter on the floor.
After easily dispatching Appalachian State 3-0 Friday, Caldwell and the rest of the Cavaliers continued to cruise Saturday, beating Liberty 3-1 to force a showdown with Albany for the tournament title.
Saturday evening, the Cavaliers and the Great Danes battled in a muggy Memorial Gymnasium for over two hours, each team waiting for the other to show a sign of weakness. Tied at two games apiece, the match went into a final game to decide the tournament.
"We told the team not to wait for Albany to make mistakes, because they're a team that's not going to," Ginipro said. "They're going to play very consistently, and to sit back and hope that they serve a ball into the net, or hit a ball out, or miss a dig -- that's not creating our own points. We have to make sure we're going out and being aggressive, going after kills and not just sitting back and waiting for them to make mistakes."
After keeping pace with the Great Danes through most of the fifth game, the Cavaliers were unable to close down the stretch, allowing Albany to grab a 15-9 victory and a 3-2 match win.
"I don't think we were getting tired -- we were doing a lot of really good things," Kirkwood said. "We didn't control our errors. We've got to be able to string together more than one or two good plays in a row."
After the first home stand of the season, the Cavaliers have earned a 5-4 overall record as they head into the heart of the ACC schedule. The team will travel to Raleigh Friday to take on N.C. State in the seventh road game of this young season. The Cavs return to Mem Gym Sept. 30 for five consecutive ACC matches in front of the Virginia faithful.
For now, though, Kirkwood will get a chance to rest her serving arm as she and her teammates take a well-deserved breather after an extremely busy weekend of volleyball.
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