With “P4HG” — play for Hannah Graham — written on their legs, the Virginia volleyball team picked up two wins against Clemson and Wake Forest this past weekend to open ACC play in the group’s first set of home matches since Sept. 6.
“We started doing it last weekend at VCU,” senior middle hitter Morgan Blair said. “It’s nice to know that we’re playing for something bigger.”
After starting the season 6-0, the Cavaliers (9-6, 2-0 ACC) went into the weekend having lost six of their last seven matches.
“We decided as a team coming into ACC play that we were going to just forget about the preseason," Blair said. “If we perform really well in the ACC, we still have a chance to make the postseason — and that’s the most important thing.”
The Cavaliers began the weekend with a 3-1 (25-23, 25-19, 19-25, 25-22) win against Clemson Friday night.
In the first set, the Cavaliers hit .412, though still allowing Clemson to hit .393. Helping the Cavalier offense was junior outside hitter Kayla Sears, who had eight kills in the set and team-high 21 for the match.
The Cavalier defense held the Tigers (11-3, 0-1 ACC) to a .097 hitting percentage in the second set. Clemson had only seven kills and seven assists, compared to Virginia’s 18 in both categories. The Cavaliers also out-dug the Tigers, 14-7.
“We focused really hard on the serve-and-pass game,” Blair said. “That was our goal from the beginning, and we knew that whichever team … won the serve-and-pass game would win the match.”
In the third set, Virginia and Clemson were tied 16-16, but the Tigers won nine of the next 12 points to cut into Virginia’s two-set lead.
Clemson continued to win points in the fourth set, but the Cavaliers finally took the lead, 18-17, and held on from there.
Though Clemson had more blocks than the Cavaliers overall, the Cavaliers had more kills, assists, service aces and digs.
“We performed to the best of our ability and just executed our game plan,” Blair said.
Senior outside hitter Tori Janowski added 15 kills to Sears’ 21 to become the 16th player in school history to reach 1,000 kills.
“It was sort of unexpected, but it’s awesome that it happened,” Janowski said. “I started off sort of slow this season, so I’m just trying to get better every week for my team and help them win.”
Sophomore outside hitter Leah Perri led Clemson with 12 kills.
Following the victory against Clemson, the Cavaliers secured a 3-1 (19-25, 25-19, 25-18, 25-20) win against Wake Forest (11-5, 1-1 ACC) Saturday night.
“Getting two wins was really important for us going into next weekend,” Blair said. “It gives us a lot of momentum against Duke and Louisville, two really tough opponents in the ACC.”
In the first set, the Cavaliers hit just .250 compared to the Demon Deacons’ .351, but Virginia improved its mark to .469 in the second set to take its first lead of the match 65 points in.
Sophomore outside hitter Haley Kole entered the game in the second set after not playing against Clemson, tallying four kills on five attempts. She finished the match with 16 kills.
“Haley Kole coming off the bench today and providing a spark and doing some good things for us was really important,” coach Dennis Hohenshelt said. “That’s we talked about with being a good team: if someone’s not having a good night, someone has to come off the bench and pick them up, so it was good to see that happen for the first time.”
The Cavaliers continued their strong hitting in the third set, posting a .400 hitting percentage compared to the Deacons’ .194. The Virginia defense also improved, recording five blocks in the set.
“If we start doing some things well, our confidence will grow,” Hohenshelt said.
In the fourth set, the Cavaliers hit .433 and posted four blocks on their way to victory. The Cavaliers finished the match with a season-best .383 hitting percentage, as well as 14 blocks.
“We were a little bit sharper taking care of the ball and taking care of points on our side of the net,” Hohenshelt said. “We didn’t give up easy points to the other team or give them points. We made them work a little bit, and to me that’s the biggest thing with this group right now. We can control the ball a bit and how hard the other team works to earn points.”
Janowski continued her climb up Virginia’s all-time kills list, racking up 19 against the Wake Forest.
On the other side, junior middle blocker Matalee Reed and senior outside hitter Jazmen Russell both led the Deacons with 17 kills.
Virginia sophomore outside hitter Jasmine Burton added 23 kills during the weekend and assisted on eight of the Cavaliers’ 14 blocks Saturday.
“Jasmine’s starting to get back to the player that we thought she was going to be for us,” Hohenshelt said.
The Cavaliers will play two more home games next weekend before hitting the road for a three-game swing.
“Our mojo is definitely here [in Memorial Gym]” Janowski said. “It’s good to be back home, and I’m glad to be back here next weekend going against Duke and Louisville.”
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