Playing in front of the largest crowd of the season — one that included University President Teresa Sullivan — in a game designated an Orange Passport event by the Hoo Crew, the Virginia volleyball team came out flat against the Hokies. The Cavaliers were swept 23-25, 15-25 and 17-25 in their first of two matches at the Marriott Cavalier Classic, falling apart after a hard-fought first game by hitting .000 in the second game, tallying 13 more hitting errors, eight fewer blocks and hitting 26 percent lower the rest of the match.
“We were just not playing together as a team,” freshman Natalie Bausback said. “We weren’t prepared.”
The defining moment may have come on the play that ended the first game. Virginia had inched closer after trailing much of the round to pull within one, 23-24. A strong hit from the Cavaliers forced Virginia Tech to respond with a sloppy, slow-moving over-pass. But no one from Virginia played the ball, and it fell in the middle of the Cavaliers’ side, giving the Hokies a first game win.
“It just took a lot of wind out of our sails,” coach Dennis Hohenshelt said of the play.
After that gaffe, the team was unable to regain the form that had kept them close in the first game. The Cavaliers’ last advantage in points came with a meager 2-1 lead in the second frame.
As disappointing as the performance against Virginia Tech was, the team showed impressive grit by responding with a hard-fought win against Liberty.
Through the first two games against the Flames (8-4, 0-0 Big South), it appeared the Cavaliers were on their way to being swept two nights in a row. The team dropped the first two rounds of the match and was within one game of being held without a win in the entire tournament. But the team rallied from an early 3-7 deficit to tie the third game at 8-8 before ultimately winning 25-19.
“All of us just really wanted to win, and after we got on the same page you can’t really go wrong with that,” sophomore setter Tori Janowski said. “All of us had the same mentality. That’s what you need to win.”
In the fourth game, with Virginia trailing 21-23, the Cavaliers came through with the most thrilling and important stretch of the day. With Liberty within two points of winning the match, the Cavaliers scored four straight points to win the game 25-23 and force a decisive fifth game. In that final frame, Virginia never looked back after trailing 1-2 early, dominating Liberty en route to a 15-8 win.
“The fact that we had given ourselves a chance to win that game, we didn’t want to let ourselves down after working that hard and lose in the end,” Janowski said.
Janowski and freshmen outside hitters Bausback and Kayla Sears powered the team to victory, combining for 55 kills and 61.5 points. Janowski’s 25 kills were the most posted by any player on the team this season.
Freshman outside hitter Manon Greskovics-Fuller also shined while receiving her first significant playing time of the season. Greskovics-Fuller recorded six kills and six digs, along with a block assist.
“She works really hard in practice, and from what I’ve seen, she’s gotten a lot better since the beginning,” Sears said. “For her to be able to play front row and back row and serve, and for her to be doing so well, it got everyone fired up when we weren’t expecting anything.”
The 3-2 win against Liberty was Virginia’s first of the season that did not come in a sweep.
“I thought this was an important match for us because [Liberty is] a good team,” Hohenshelt said. “I knew we were [going to] have to be good to beat them. They haven’t won a tough match like this in a while, and I’m extremely excited for them.”
Virginia takes the court again next weekend as they host Miami and Florida State.
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