The Virginia women's volleyball team lost in straight sets to Wake Forest Friday night but improved its mental approach and determination overnight to defeat Florida State, 3-1 (15-9, 14-16, 15-8, 15-6), and shoot back into the ACC title race.
"Our match was just a mental test and we did really well tonight," Cav coach Melissa Aldrich Shelton said. "We made way too many mental errors [against Wake]. We were up in games and couldn't close them out and it was all a mental lapse. It was very frustrating and we just laid a challenge to the girls not to make any excuses tonight and they really rose to the occasion."
Heavy-hitting captain Deanna Zwarich tallied a match- high 23 kills and nine blocks and outside hitters Paige Davis and Katie Jones both earned double-doubles as Virginia (6-7, 2-1 ACC) handed Florida State (11-4, 0-2) its second loss in conference play. The Seminoles were not at full strength, however. Florida State setter Alexandra Sevillano dropped out of the match early with an ankle sprain.
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Florida State "had the best start of anybody [in the ACC] and have had some big wins already this year," Shelton said. "Right now their starting setter is out, it looks like she sprained her ankle really badly, so they will be a much different team when they get her back."
Virginia showed signs of Friday night's mental letdown in the second game against Florida State and dropped its only game of the match, 14-16. However, the Cavaliers bounced back with a dominating 15-8 win in the third game and reduced any fears of another lapse.
"I thought we did a great job of coming back after last night," Zwarich said. "Tonight we played so much better on defense, which made our offensive attack better. Against Wake, we were mentally tired, mentally not ready to play, mentally weaker. Obviously [Wake Forest] wanted it more than us and we didn't come into the match ready to play."
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The Cavaliers carried the momentum from the third game to the fourth and crushed the Seminoles, 15-6. Florida State could not keep up with the fast-paced Virginia offense and stingy defense in the final two games. The Cavs used several key blocks in the match to decide the contest. Virginia tallied 15 blocks to Florida State's six.
For their double-doubles, Jones registered 16 kills and 16 digs while Davis had 17 kills and a 16 digs. Freshman setter Abby Whittenburg notched a match-high 58 assists and added four block assists as well.
The Cavaliers return to the courts Sept. 29, when they head to Georgia Tech (10-4, 1-1).
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