The Virginia volleyball team experienced its first highs and lows of the season in the girls’ first three matches of the weekend. The team competed for the annual Cavalier Classic title in Memorial Gymnasium, hosting Buffalo, George Washington and Northwestern in the tournament.
After starting off with wins in straight sets against Buffalo and George Washington Friday, the Cavaliers fell to Northwestern in the title game, 3-1.
Results aside, it was refreshing for the girls and coaches to finally get the season started after the normal preseason anxiety.
“I asked them before the game on Friday, ‘How many of you were worried Thursday night that we won't win at all?’” coach Dennis Hohenshelt said. “The seniors raised their hands because those are the people who are anxious, the young kids have no idea.”
Hohenshelt said he felt that by time the team’s final practice on Thursday ended, the girls were ready to take on their first opponents.
“Based on where we were in practice on Thursday, we really came together as a team this weekend,” he said. “The young kids are starting to get into what’s happening. To me, weekends are the reward for the hard work you put in during the week.”
One of the biggest storylines for the team going into the season was how the six new freshmen would acclimate to the collegiate level, so having them gain experience and improve this weekend was critical to the team’s long-term success in Hohenshelt’s eyes.
The coach highlighted a few freshmen that stood out in their first competition.
“I thought [middle blocker] Kiley Banker had a good solid weekend, and [middle hitter] Kat Young, a redshirt freshman, had spurts where she was good. I think everyone this weekend saw that [outside hitter] Kelsey Miller is going to be something special. At one point you look out and there’s five [freshmen] out there and you’re not sure if it’s a good or bad thing, but this team has the capacity to win games.”
Both veterans and newcomers shined as the Cavaliers cruised to their two victories Friday.
In the game against Buffalo, senior outside hitters Jasmine Burton and Haley Kole led the team with 11 and 10 kills, respectively, while Banker finished not far behind with nine. While Buffalo hung around, the Cavaliers were in control for the whole game en route to their first win.
Against George Washington, the team battled out and won the first set in a tiebreak, but then took control and won again in straight sets.
The momentum they took into Northwestern was not enough to carry them to victory, however. The Cavaliers went on to tie the game after dropping the first set, but the Wildcats took the third and fourth sets to claim the Cavalier Classic title. Junior outside hitter Alex Thorson led the team with 13 kills in the loss.
Though he would have loved to cap the weekend going 3-0, Hohenshelt acknowledged losing in early season games can sometimes be beneficial to find and work out kinks in the team’s game.
“The thing about these weekends is that you want to come to flex so we can work on them a little bit,” Hohenshelt said. “The kids understand that just because you win doesn’t mean we’re doing things the right way. We’re going to have to battle every weekend when we play teams like [Northwestern]. We’ll look at some film tomorrow, sit down and say ‘hey, this is how we’ll able to correct it.’”
One of the biggest beneficiaries to the Cavaliers this weekend were the big and loud crowd at Memorial Gymnasium. After the Northwestern game, Hohenshelt expressed his great appreciation for the fans.
“To have that crowd tonight was unbelievable,” he said. “For them to stick with us through this thing, if they continue to do that, there are going to be great things coming for this group.”
It was a solid start to a promising season for the Cavalier volleyball team as they got their feet wet while taking home two wins. Next up is a trip to the LSU Tiger Classic in Baton Rouge, La., where they will take on Southern Mississippi, Louisiana State and Connecticut in their second tournament of the season.
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