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Volleyball dominates Clemson to break losing streak

Cavaliers' hard work pays off in snapping 12-game skid

<p>Senior outside hitter Jasmine Burton led the Cavaliers with 12 kills in their win over Clemson, snapping a 12-game losing streak.&nbsp;</p>

Senior outside hitter Jasmine Burton led the Cavaliers with 12 kills in their win over Clemson, snapping a 12-game losing streak. 

The Virginia volleyball team can finally breathe a collective sigh of relief — they finally got that crucial win. The Cavaliers (4-14, 1-5 ACC) dropped a game to Georgia Tech on Friday at home, but rebounded with a commanding win against Clemson in straight sets on Saturday night. The team was clearly elated by finally getting a win after a couple rough weeks of figuring out their game.

“It felt really good to get a win because we’ve been working so hard,” senior outside hitter Jasmine Burton said. “We’ve been working on finishing when the score is 20-20, something we haven’t been able to do all season, but I think we’re finally learning how to win again.”

Burton led the team with 12 kills against Clemson. Coach Dennis Hohenshelt felt his team was much more assertive from the start of the game, and sees his team progressing even more.

“It feels good to smile after this,” coach Dennis Hohenshelt said after the game. “I thought the girls were very solid tonight. Clemson has been fighting the same struggle we’ve been in, but I thought we were more aggressive out of the box. There’s definitely more to come from this.”

The difference in the Cavaliers’ level of play was astounding just between Friday and Saturday night. Virginia lost three close sets en route to defeat against the Yellow Jackets, but against the Tigers, the Cavaliers looked poised as they cruised to a win.

“We were just very efficient tonight, we didn’t make a lot of mistakes,” Hohenshelt said. “We made them do things to beat us, and sometimes that’s what needs to be done to win matches.”

Burton noticed a difference in her own level of play from Friday to her big night on Saturday.

“I watched film with my coach and looked at what I was doing wrong,” Burton said. “I knew I had to work on my approach and start swinging higher like I was doing in practice.”

One of the most impressive aspects of the Cavaliers performance was how they took over the game and dominated each set against Clemson. Up to that point in the season, the Cavaliers had been close to victory in almost every set they’ve played, but they could not seem to put it together at the end and string together set wins. Against Clemson, they not only won each set, but won them comfortably.

“This was our highest night of hitting percentage thus far, our offense allowed us to be efficient,” Hohenshelt said. “When we hit at a high percentage, it makes things a lot easier for us.”

The 1-1 weekend brought the Cavaliers record up to 4-14, but more importantly broke their 12-game losing streak, putting them in a position to make a run the rest of the way.

“Building is a great word,” Hohenshelt said. “We’re still going to try to add some things on offense for variation, because now we’re going to go back and replay teams. We just have to throw a few wrinkles at them.”

The Cavaliers will have their first ACC rematches of the season next weekend in North Carolina. The team will first travel to Winston-Salem, N.C. to take on Wake Forest on Friday before heading to Durham, N.C. on Saturday to take on the Duke Blue Devils. Both teams took down the Cavaliers at Memorial Gym earlier this season.

Virginia volleyball will look to build on this performance next weekend as it looks towards a more promising future.

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