Facing an unexpected deficit after the first game last night, the Virginia women's volleyball team rallied together and stormed back to defeat in-state rival Virginia Tech, 3-1 (28-30, 30-27, 30-28, 30-27).
"We try and tell the girls that for every in-state team, their match of the year is playing us," Virginia coach Melissa Aldrich Shelton said. "Typical of another in-state team, [Virginia Tech] came out guns ablazing, with nothing to lose, and they fought for it."
Looking confident and relaxed in warm-ups, Virginia came out of the gate strong and pulled out to an early 11-7 lead behind serves from middle Shannon Boyle and outside hitter Katie Synan. The Hokies refused to be cowed, however, and the Virginia Tech attack gained momentum as it increasingly found openings among the Virginia blockers.
The first game went to the Hokies after a service error by Virginia's Andrea Fischer, but the second game proved to be another story. Hitting a microscopic .026 attack percentage as a team, the visitors nonetheless managed to press the Cavaliers to the limit. Boyle and outside hitter Jenny Harmon provided four kills during the second game, and outside hitter Whitney Ashcraft added the final serve to pull the match even at one game apiece.
After the slow finish to the first game, their volleys during the second game showed that the Cavaliers were beginning to play up to their potential and atone for their earlier lapses.
"I think it was the realization of how hard we have to fight to beat everybody," Shelton said. "There's never going to be an easy match, nobody is going to let us beat them. I think it is that realization that shook [the Virginia players] up."
"I think it started to sink in that Tech could beat us," Harmon said. "We come in every year knowing that we're better, but maybe not playing at the intensity level that we should be because of that. Our hustle picked up the last two games. We picked up a lot of loose balls and we didn't give up."
Boyle agreed, noting that the Cavaliers' teamwork increased notably in the later games.
"We came out slow," Boyle said. "But everybody stepped it up a notch after the first couple of games. We came together as a team, we started playing, communicating and reading what the others were going to do. That makes a difference in volleyball."
Although again in the third game the Hokies stayed close, the Cavaliers compiled a match-high .316 attack percentage, paced by kills from Harmon, Boyle and outside hitter Paige Davis. The increase was fueled by improved passing from setter Abby Whittenburg, who finished the match with 49 assists.
"Abby put up a lot better balls in the third and fourth games," Shelton said. "Although she struggled a little with consistency, she did a lot better job [later] giving sets that we needed."
The Cavaliers dropped the curtain on Virginia Tech in the fourth game, with serves from Synan, Davis and middle Simona Kupers sparking Virginia rallies.
Only after Davis smashed the final kill and the victory over their rivals was secure did the Cavaliers relent, breaking into wide, reassured smiles, as they rushed to celebrate at center court.
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