The Virginia women's volleyball team picked up a pair of conference wins this weekend, defeating ACC powerhouse Georgia Tech 3-2 Saturday night and sweeping Clemson 3-0 Friday at University Hall.
Senior co-captain Deanna Zwarich and freshman Shannon Boyle led the Cavaliers (15-12, 8-6 ACC) on a furious comeback against the conference-leading Yellow Jackets. In her final career home match, Zwarich slammed 22 kills, setting a new Virginia single-season record with 500 kills and bringing her career total to 1,453.
"I'm really overwhelmed right now, I don't know what to say," Zwarich said. "I'm really proud of myself. I'm proud of our team. We did a great job and the only reason that I could have made that record is because of my team."
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Zwarich is just 12 kills shy of the Virginia career kills record and, barring catastrophe, she will break it next weekend on the Cavs' season-ending trip to Wake Forest and Duke.
Boyle turned in the best performance of her young collegiate career, racking up 16 kills and adding two digs.
Virginia got off to a slow start against Georgia Tech (21-5, 11-2), losing the first two games 15-10 and 15-8, but they rallied to sweep the last three 15-2, 15-10, 15-12.
"We came out in the third game and just decided this is crap and we need to take care of business," Zwarich said. "And we took care of business ... we all just flipped the switch. It was great."
The switch flipped with 10 unanswered Virginia points in the third game, and the Cavaliers never looked back. They won the fourth game easily to even the match at two and cruised through the fifth game, snapping the Jackets' 12-match winning streak.
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"It might elevate us," coach Melissa Aldrich Shelton said of the win. "It gives us a chance for third [in the ACC], which was a long shot. It gives us a legitimate shot at an at-large bid [for the NCAA Tournament]. Every win that we can have in the last half of the season is huge for us because it shows that we've improved and deserve to be there."
With only the trip to Wake and Duke before the ACC Tournament begins Nov. 16 at Wake Forest, Virginia should get a confidence boost from the wins over the Yellow Jackets and the Tigers (12-15, 5-8).
"This weekend, it finally hit me that we can really win it," senior Katie Jones said. "Before when I said it, it may have been fluff, but now I really believe it."
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After Saturday night's game, the team honored its three seniors - Zwarich, Jones and setter Cathy Arnette - congratulating them on their final home match. Coupled with a win over the best team in the conference, the night was more than a little memorable.
"To beat Georgia Tech was the most important part," Jones said. "The fact that it's the last game at home is really not that big a deal because we've still got two weeks left in the season."
Zwarich, on the other hand, had a different response when asked if the upset win made her final home game any sweeter:
"Hell yeah"
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