The Virginia volleyball team bounced back after losing the first game of last night's match to beat James Madison and did not look back, winning 3-1 (24-30, 31-29, 30-25, 30-28) at University Hall.
Virginia (2-2) opened poorly, managing only a .069 hitting percentage and seven kills in the opening game as the Dukes (1-3) hit .394.
"We just weren't ready to play," Virginia coach Melissa Shelton said. "A lot of that is this is our first day in this facility. It was the first time we've even been in this gym all year. A lot of spatial things are really tough."
The second game featured the teams trading three-point runs, but the Dukes looked to be pulling away after taking a 22-17 lead. But four straight JMU errors let Virginia back into the game and the Cavaliers pounced on the opportunity. The teams traded points and JMU went up 29-28 on a powerful spike by senior outside hitter Jessica Evers, a Charlottesville native. But Virginia sophomore Alexis Geocaris stepped up with two straight kills to help give the Cavaliers the second game.
The comeback was "obviously huge," Shelton said. "The confidence and momentum went in our favor and we kind of took the wind out of JMU's sails."
Virginia carried that momentum into the third game led by a pair of sophomores, outside hitter Celeste Laborde and setter Lily Phillips.
Laborde recorded five kills while Phillips tallied a double-double with 10 assists and 10 digs.
After falling behind 20-17, a spike by Virginia senior Simona Kuipers and four JMU errors put the Cavaliers ahead 22-20. The teams traded points twice, and a double hit by JMU gave Virginia a 27-24 edge. A long rally punctuated by junior Shannon Boyle's kill off a Phillips set put the Cavaliers up 28-24. Freshman outside hitter Kristin Chaney served an ace, and another kill by Boyle ended the third game.
JMU appeared to be pushing it toward a fifth game when it went up 17-12. But a Cavalier run sparked by a Kuipers block made it close, and the teams traded points until JMU went up 26-25. Two kills by Kuipers gave the Cavaliers a 27-26 lead, and then Laborde stepped up again.
The sophomore from New Orleans served two big aces to give Virginia a 29-26 edge.
"I knew we had to do something special because we had missed so many serves and they had missed so many serves," Laborde said. "That was not going to happen at the end of the game. I went back there and focused to serve where our coaches told us to serve."
JMU scored two points, but Boyle put the match away off a Phillips kill to give the Cavaliesrs a 30-28 win in the fourth set.
At home, "we want to take care of business in three games, four at the most," Shelton said. "You never want to go to five. Celeste going back there and serving when she'd been serving poorly the rest of the match and actually had been subbed out a lot was huge. She went after it and didn't get scared. It was a big step for her."
Phillips finished with 41 sets, an average of 10.25 per game. Laborde had a team-high 11 kills and the two big aces in a match that had 36 total service errors.
"We came from behind in one of the games and ended up pulling it out in the end," Laborde said. "Refocusing after the first game and coming back and winning is a big deal."
The Cavaliers return to action this weekend at home in the Fairfield Inn Jefferson Cup Volleyball Tournament. They will open against the College of Charleston Friday at 7 p.m. at University Hall, shooting for their third straight win.
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