The sun shone through the windows of Memorial Gym, fans were on their feet, pump-up tunes blasted through the speakers — life was good for Virginia’s volleyball team early Sunday afternoon. In four sets, the Cavaliers were able to get the monkey off their back and win their first ACC game of the season at home with a convincing victory against Wake Forest.
After losing in a tight match Friday against Duke, Virginia (12-9, 4-5 ACC) won three sets in a row after dropping the first in Sunday’s 3-1 (14-25, 25-21, 25-16, 27-25) victory to secure coach Lee Maes’s fourth victory in Memorial Gym in his first year as Virginia’s coach.
“They did a nice job responding, especially after losing game one ... to respond and win the next three and play a lot better volleyball,” Maes said.
The Cavaliers struggled in the first set of the match against Wake Forest (13-8, 4-5 ACC), hitting only 37 percent of their kill attempts to the Demon Deacons’ 66 percent.
Virginia held the edge for most of the rest of the match.
“I think our serving and passing really helped us out this game,” senior middle blocker Shannon Davis said. “When we started to get in a lull, that’s what picked us up.”
Davis, a team captain who leads the regular starters in hitting percentage on the season, had an uncharacteristic game. She hit a low .053 shot percentage with only four kills, never seeming to find a rhythm. She complimented the team’s outside hitters for stepping up.
“I think the outsides did great today,” Davis said. “They just kept putting balls away and really helped us.”
The Cavaliers’ Friday match against Duke (15-6, 6-3 ACC) was a tight 3-2 loss (28-30, 25-22, 23-25, 28-26, 12-15) that was close from the start. The first set went into more extra hits than any other for Virginia this season. Through the entire match, the Cavaliers and Blue Devils were neck-and-neck.
“We played so well; defense was right on, and we really should have won it,” sophomore right-side hitter Kendahl Voelker said of the match against Duke, calling it a “heartbreaker.”
Players and coaches noted that Friday’s match, despite the tally in the loss column, might have seen the best volleyball from Virginia so far this season.
“We felt like we had a chance to win every game; the difference was us unfortunately making some unforced errors at the wrong time,” Maes said. “It was a great match to play in, a great match to coach in.”
Voelker and Davis both credited Maes’ support as a key factor in allowing the Cavaliers to bounce back Sunday and avoid falling into a rut like the one that plagued the Cavaliers against Clemson in the Sept. 27 Virginia loss.
“As a coach, [Maes is] so technical,” Voelker said. “He says, ‘If you keep doing it over and over again, your body’s going to memorize it. You won’t have to think about it, just go. So, just trust your technique and your mind.’”
Among the techniques the team’s coaches have emphasized are passing and serving.
“Serving was great tonight,” Maes said. “It’s one of those things where I think, ‘We’re one of the better serving teams in the country.’ We take a lot of pride in our serving. We know it’s a facet of the game that’s often neglected.”
Less consistent was the Cavaliers’ passing, another facet of the game Virginia sees as a key for its success.
“What we’re trying to make our team understand is you don’t have to be perfect, but we need to make sure we limit our unforced errors,” Maes said.
The Cavaliers will look to build momentum from their solid play this weekend when they face Miami and Florida State Oct. 24 and 25, respectively, in Memorial Gym. Maes will seek to prevent the team from taking a step back after the win; responding well to every situation is something he has constantly preached to the team.
“Part of having a competitive mentality is having a positive, appropriate response,” Maes said. “We’ve been really trying to emphasize that, talk about how they manage defensively, the level of focus, the level of discipline.”
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