A trip to the Sunshine State promises to bring warm weather, palm trees and two intense matchups for the Virginia volleyball team this weekend - the beginning of a tough four-game road stint.
The Cavaliers travel to Coral Gables and Tallahassee, Fla. this weekend to take on ACC conference rivals, Miami and Florida State. With a win in each of these two matches, the Cavaliers would improve to a 3-0 record against ACC opponents and an 8-6 record overall.
Winning, however, will be no easy task for Virginia.
The Seminoles (11-1) are ranked No. 18 in the nation and are coming into Sunday's match with a potential eight-game winning streak after tonight's match against Virginia Tech. The Hurricanes (7-4), meanwhile, despite coming off back-to-back losses against Florida State and Notre Dame, are a proven, disciplined squad.
"Florida State is probably the most physical team in our conference," Virginia coach Lee Maes said. "They're big; they have a lot of powerful hitters."
But Maes does not want the team to focus this week on the success of its opponents, but rather on what it can do as a collective group to poise itself for victory.
"We want to treat every team with the knowledge that they're going to be good," Maes said. "We need to focus on the things that we have control over, and that's often a focus on the process and how good we can be with our own execution, and we feel the results will take care of themselves."
This week at practice, Maes has especially stressed the importance of consistency and mental preparation on the court, as the Cavaliers failed to find an even level of play this past weekend.
"Our focus on a daily basis is always to improve," Maes said. "The most evident improvement that needs to be made is our passing. We had the most reception errors in one weekend than we've had all season, and that's not reflective of what we do technically. It's more reflective of the mental approach that we take in sustaining focus and being a lot more competitive with our mentality."
The Cavaliers aim to regroup after two straight losses against Villanova and Albany at home during this past weekend's Marriot Cavalier Invitational, which followed a 3-1 victory against Virginia Tech in their ACC opener.
"I think that especially after Virginia Tech, we were probably a little overconfident; the losses might have brought us back down to earth," freshman middle blocker Jessica O'Shoney said. "But we're definitely ready to come into the gym and start getting prepared for the whole ACC."
This weekend's two matches will be the first of two contests against Florida State and Miami this season. During 2008, the Cavaliers faced these two teams only once, earning a close 3-2 victory against Miami but falling 0-3 against Florida State at home.
The team hopes to learn from last year's matches and use its knowledge to knock off its opponents.
"We'll definitely be preparing just as we've done for any of the matches, just doing the stuff we know they are going to do and getting our team ready mentally as well as physically," O'Shoney said.
Following this weekend in Florida, Virginia heads to North Carolina next weekend to take on Duke and Wake Forest in two more ACC matchups before returning home to host N.C. State Oct. 9.
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