The Virginia volleyball team came out on a mission Saturday night: to snap their four game losing streak and play more like the team that reeled off seven straight wins to begin the season. They did just that, defeating N.C. State 3-1 (15-4, 15-6, 12-15, 15-12).
Saturday "was good; we stepped up after having a very poor showing the last four matches," coach Melissa Aldrich Shelton said.
The Cavaliers (8-4, 1-1 ACC) were paced by third-year middle hitter Deanna Zwarich, who posted a career high 24 kills, eclipsing her previous best of 22.
"Deanna Zwarich had one of the best matches of her career, so far," Shelton said. "She was on fire, she blocked a lot of balls, hit a lot of balls, stepped it up in the back row and was consistent passing."
"I just wanted to win so bad," Zwarich said. "I was trying to keep solid, play my role, hit the ball, just do my job."
The Cavs came out smoking against the Wolfpack (9-9, 0-2) in the first two games. The team had 26 kills, while only making three errors to start off. It looked as if they would make quick work of the Pack, however N.C. State rallied from 12-11 down following a timeout to take the third game.
Virginia started slowly in the fourth game, trailing 8-5 at one point. From there they charged back and took the lead when outside-hitter Katie Jones smacked the ball for an 11-10 advantage. The Cavaliers didn't look back from there and off an assist from Mary Francis Scott, Zwarich punctuated the evening with her final kill.
N.C. State "was a little slow starting, which you kind of expect on the second night of a road trip," Shelton said. "They stepped it up in the third game and we didn't quite meet the challenge until right there at the end of the fourth."
"It's a big win - we needed to put this team away and we did it," Zwarich said. "It was a little scary there after the third game, but we pulled it out. I thought we did a good job."
Not only was this an important match notching their first ACC win this season, but it also allowed two Cavs to reach milestones. Scott, with her match-high 48 assists, moved into fifth place on the all-time ACC assist list with 5,089. With 15 kills, fourth-year middle blocker Jessica Parsons moved into fourth place on Virginia's all-time kills list with 1,064.
The win came off a loss Friday night at U-Hall to North Carolina 3-0 (15-10, 15-8, 15-7). Zwarich paced Virginia with 12 kills against the Tar Heels, while Parsons added 10 kills and 11 digs in the match. Scott added 32 assists and nine digs.
"Getting beat by UNC [Friday night], we all just were itching to get a win under our belts," Zwarich said. "We needed to have this game to remember how it feels to win. It's good to remember how that feels, because we have high hopes for this season."
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