Looking to bounce back from a loss to No. 21 Duke last Friday, the Virginia volleyball team returns to Charlottesville this Homecomings weekend to continue its ACC schedule with matches against North Carolina State and Notre Dame. The Cavaliers are 6-1 at home this season.
After stressing the importance of playing a complete game, the Cavaliers (11-9, 4-3 ACC) fell in straight sets (14-25, 18-25, 23-25) to the Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, North Carolina.
“The first game, we didn’t play to our best ability at all,” junior middle hitter Natalie Bausback said. “I don’t know if it was nerves or whatever, but we just didn’t click. Second game — we played point-to-point with them until 16-16 and then kind of lost it from there, and I think game three, we fought really hard and then at the end we weren’t able to finish and close.”
Though the Cavaliers lost, they did have six blocks — an improvement from the previous week, when the Virginia recorded a dismal 1.5 blocks against No. 9 North Carolina and 7.5 in five sets against Virginia Tech. The team is currently 10th in the ACC, with 2.23 blocks per set.
“Our blocking actually came around,” coach Dennis Hohenshelt said. “We didn’t block a lot of balls, but watching the video we’re in some pretty good spots with our blocks, which is an upgrade from where we have been.”
With sophomore outside hitter Jasmine Burton — second on the team in kills this season — out with a foot injury against Duke, the Cavaliers relied on Bausback and sophomore outside hitter Haley Kole. Against the Blue Devils, Bausback led the team with 12 kills and assisted on four of the six blocks. Kole added 10 kills.
“I thought Haley Kole had a really good game,” Hohenshelt said. “She’s starting to come around to what we want with her to be offensively, so that’s a big upgrade for us. Natalie was unbelievable. She’s right now our go-to person. We have to get her the ball. She blocks the ball for us, and she’s our best player.”
Bausback was named MVP of two tournaments earlier this year. She has the best hitting percentage on the team and leads Virginia in blocks assisted and solo blocks for a total of 84 blocks on the season.
Though Bausback paced the team in kills the last two weeks, the Cavalier hitters have alternated in leading the category throughout the year.
“We haven’t had all five attackers be good at one time — one person’s OK this weekend, the other person’s not,” Hohenshelt said. “That’s an issue right now we have to figure out. We have to get all five of us going. When we were good in the beginning of the season that was the deal. I think Natalie’s probably been our most consistent attacker right now. There was a stretch where she struggled a little bit, but you go back and watch the tape and it’s pretty impressive the things she’s doing right now.”
Bausback and the rest of the Cavalier attackers will first face North Carolina State (12-7, 1-6 ACC) Friday. After winning 12 straight games, the Wolfpack have lost six in a row, including a five-set loss against Louisville last weekend.
NC State has had three straight 20-win seasons and made the NCAA Tournament in the 2012 campaign. Earlier this year, senior outside hitter Dariyan Hopper was named to the Preseason All-ACC team. She led the team in kills last season and is third on the team in that category this year.
Freshman middle blocker Kaitlyn Kearney also leads the Wolfpack offense. Kearney has 35 more kills than Hopper on the year and has been named ACC Freshman of the Week twice this season.
After a night of rest, the Cavaliers will face Notre Dame (5-14, 2-6 ACC) Saturday. The Fighting Irish have not had a winning season since 2012, when they were still in the Big East Conference. The Notre Dame roster is a mix of seniors, who have memories of the Big East, and freshman, who know only the ACC. The six freshmen were named the 16th-best recruiting class in the nation earlier this year by PrepVolleyball.
A Notre Dame senior, middle blocker Jeni Houser, has also received accolades. Houser was named to the Preseason All-ACC team alongside NC State’s Hopper. Houser is currently leading the Fighting Irish attack and is on pace to leave Notre Dame in the top 10 of the program’s all-time kills list. She recorded 13 kills in the Fighting Irish’s win against Boston College last weekend.
“Their records aren’t good, but they’re both really good teams,” Hohenshelt said. “Right now, there are a lot of teams in this league that are 1-6 [or] 2-5. It’s because we’re all beating up on each other right now. NC State’s played a lot of people tough. Notre Dame’s played a lot of people tough. There are no gimmes in this league anymore. In the years past, there were gimmes, but there are none this year. We’re going to have to be good Friday and Saturday for sure to win.”
Winning the first set against both the Wolfpack and Fighting Irish could go a long way to posting a pair of wins.
“I think we just need to come out strong and play how we know how to play,” sophomore defensive specialist Lexi Riccolo said. “We’ve been struggling coming out and kind of getting our butts kicked in the first game, so we just need to come out strong and get that first game to get momentum to carry us through the match.”
Tip-off inside Memorial Gym is set for 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
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