Virginia volleyball defeated Florida State Friday in its first ACC matchup of the season at Memorial Gymnasium. The Cavaliers (12-2, 2-1 ACC) beat the No. 16 Seminoles (10-3, 2-1 ACC) in straight sets to pick up their first win against a top-25 opponent since 2010, when Virginia also beat then-No. 25 Florida State.
Coach Shannon Wells highlighted senior libero Milan Gomillion as a crucial player in the team’s win. Gomillion led all players in the game with 19 kills.
“[Gomillion’s] already had one ESPN Top 10 moment this year, and I think she had about three more that we could nominate for tonight,” Wells said. “We asked our team to play fearless tonight and just go after it, and … that’s what we did.”
Following a high-energy warmup, Virginia opened the first set strongly with two unanswered points featuring a block from senior outside hitter Elayna Duprey. However, Florida State stayed composed to keep the Cavaliers’ lead small through the beginning of the set. They battled back to keep the score close, with multiple lead changes and tied scores.
A 3-0 unanswered scoring run from the Seminoles gave them a 15-13 lead going into the first media timeout. Virginia answered back with its own scoring run to take the lead 17-16. The momentum remained with the Cavaliers as they took another lead over Florida State 19-18, forcing the Seminoles to take a timeout.
The remainder of the set was tight, but Virginia capitalized on its slight edge over Florida State. Two key kills from senior outside hitter Brooklyn Borum and one from senior middle blocker Abby Tadder led the Cavaliers to a 25-22 victory in the first set.
The start of the second set mirrored the first, with various tied scores and lead changes. Virginia went on a three-point scoring run and maintained its lead by two points going into the first media timeout of the set, where the Cavaliers led 15-13.
The momentum remained with the Cavaliers as they took their first three-point lead of the game. Florida State called a timeout in an attempt to regain their footing and the visitors did just that, responding with a 3-0 scoring run that cut the score to 19-20. However, a timeout from Virginia helped them readjust and the Cavaliers held off the Seminoles, winning the second set 25-21.
The third set followed the same pattern as the previous two, with the momentum moving between both teams. Florida State held onto a slight lead over Virginia through the beginning of the set, but the Cavaliers did not let this lead extend to more than two points. They took the lead 10-9 for the first time in the set and extended it to 13-10 before the Seminoles took a timeout.
Virginia remained in control, with kills from Tadder and Borum extending the lead to 18-13 before Florida State took its final timeout. The Cavaliers maintained this lead despite scoring being back and forth.
Kills from Duprey, Dean and Tadder amidst an energized crowd on their feet brought the Cavaliers to victory, as they took the third set 25-22 after a missed serve from the Seminoles. The victory is the team’s ninth in 10 games and a great rebound from their road defeat to NC State Sunday
On top of being a historic win, Virginia’s defeat of Florida State will be an important confidence booster going into the rest of its ACC season. Beating the third-ranked team in the ACC is not an easy feat, and this victory continues to prove this team is undeniably much stronger than in previous years and has the potential to continue making history for the Cavaliers.
“This is what we see from our team each and every day,” Wells said. “I’m just really proud of them for being able to take it from the practice court to the match court. I don’t know if we’ve done that consistently this year, but I just felt like we were really in control.”
Virginia will be back in action soon when it takes on Miami Sunday in John Paul Jones Arena. Yet another ACC matchup at home, with a large crowd expected to be in attendance, gives the Cavaliers an opportunity to build upon Friday’s win. The game will begin at 1 p.m. and can be streamed on ACCNX.
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