The Virginia volleyball team started its match against Alabama Saturday night as if the Cavs had somewhere important to be that evening.
In the final game of the annual Jefferson Cup Tournament, hosted by the Cavaliers, coach Melissa Aldrich Shelton's squad jumped out to a commanding 8-0 lead in the first game. Despite it being their third contest in 24 hours, Virginia looked like it was the experienced varsity embarrassing the J.V., but Alabama had other ideas.
The Crimson Tide stormed back from its early deficit and matched Virginia point for point, side-out for side-out and kill for kill for five games and over three hours before it finally succumbed, and the Cavs emerged from the scrappy battle with a 12-15, 15-6, 15-7, 18-20, 15-9 victory.
The win earned Virginia a sweep of the Jefferson Cup Tournament. The Cavaliers (4-0) bested Ohio (2-2) in straight games 15-13, 15-8, 15-9 Friday and swept Furman (0-3) the next morning, 15-8, 15-8, 15-2.
Setter Mary Frances Scott was named the Tournament Most Valuable Player after compiling 142 assists and 34 digs over the weekend, including 72 assists and 21 digs in the match against Alabama (1-2), both game-highs. The Cavaliers also placed third-years Katie Jones and Deanna Zwarich on the All-Tournament team. Jones led the Cavs with 25 kills, a career-high, in a marathon match that saw long rallies, crowd-pleasing spikes and blocks and extensive stretches where no team could keep the ball long enough to score.
"As far as competitiveness, that was one of the top games I've ever played in," Jones said. "We had incredible rallies, and the competition was great."
Both teams were pushed to the limit in the pivotal fourth set. After blowing its wide margin in the first, Virginia came back and handled the Tide easily in the next two games. But Alabama battled the Cavs to five tiebreakers in the fourth, refusing to give away this hard-fought match.
But with the Cavaliers holding a 15-14 lead and tasting victory, the Tide's Monica Morales took over the game. The outside hitter provided vicious kills on several occasions to force a side-out or notch an Alabama point. With the score wavering back and forth in a pitched battle, Morales was the difference maker, scoring the Tide's last two points and leading the team to a 20-18 fourth set win.
"It was an emotional loss," Crimson Tide coach Judy Green said. "In the fourth game, we were able to hang in there because we kept siding out. Both teams had a really difficult time [and] wanted to finish that fourth game."
On Virginia's side, Scott's ingenuity and playmaking decisions overmatched the athleticism of Morales and the Tide. To go along with her crisp passing, Scott also created her own points by dumping the ball into their court - sending a set over the net rather than to a teammate - and catching the Tide defense off-guard.
"That was probably the longest game that I've played," Scott said. "It was a great match and Alabama was an unbelievable opponent. We just had to stand tough."
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