A quick glance at the ACC volleyball standings shows Virginia ranked fourth to last, yet the Cavaliers (12-9, 4-5 ACC) are keeping their chins up.
Despite splitting the weekend pair of ACC games, despite holding a 1-3 ACC record at home, the Cavaliers are playing their best volleyball of the season right now.
The team is “sticking through it, working through it,” coach Lee Maes said.
The Cavaliers may sit in the bottom third of the ACC, but their place in the standings could be misleading. The Cavaliers have twice stumbled in five sets of winnable games against some of the ACC’s best: against Clemson Sept. 27 and against Duke Oct. 17. If Virginia had gotten a few lucky bounces in each of those matches, it could be sitting in the top five right now.
Furthermore, the Cavaliers are playing cleanly and efficiently as a unit and as individuals and are refusing to settle. In a match Oct. 19, 2007, the Cavaliers played Wake Forest and struggled with a .132 hitting percentage en route to a victory. One year later, the Cavaliers played the Demon Deacons again and hit .185, a number that would have been even higher without a sloppy first game in which the Cavaliers shook off some morning rust.
“I think we came out and the first game wasn’t very good, but we learned from those,” senior middle blocker Shannon Davis said of the Cavaliers’ match against Wake Forest Sunday. “I think we corrected them a lot better today, and that’s why were able to turn the tight games toward us.”
Though the Cavaliers’ level of play has improved throughout the season, it was not until this past weekend that the team’s tone took a positive turn.
After the victory against the Demon Deacons, Maes compared the team’s situation, from losing some games it expected to win to persevering and finding a recent groove, to another Virginia sports team.
“I think we’re similar with the football team in that regards,” Maes said. “You know, when you go on streaks where things aren’t going your way. Anyone can take the road that says, ‘Hey, we’re going to pout about it and we’re going to wish things were better and look where the grass is greener.’”
Virginia’s volleyball team dropped its first three against ACC opponents this season. The team committed unforced errors, and players became audibly frustrated. Perhaps the Cavaliers’ level of success since then, going 4-2 including a couple of hard-fought road wins, is a result of Maes’ goal of channeling that frustration into improved technique and focus.
“Teams that are going to be competitive are the ones that are going to go out there and do something about wanting to win, and change their fortune,” Maes said. “They have to go out there and have the mentality that they’re going to do something about it.”
A little more than two weeks ago, the Cavaliers were still fourth to last in the ACC standings but seemed much more unlikely to claw out from the bottom of the conference pile. From the first practices of the season, the Cavaliers have said their goal for the season is to win the conference championship. Six matches — including three road wins — later, the goal does not seem quite so far-fetched.
“We want to play quality volleyball; we want to continue trying to execute things we train on,” Maes said, “so we have opportunities to play good teams and be that competitive.”
Now that the Cavaliers have built a foundation of the high level of play they can achieve, does the coach think the team can keep it up and have a shot at the conference title?
“Well, they’re not going to wait for things to happen and hope,” Maes said.
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