The Virginia volleyball team beat LIU Brooklyn, Navy and Alabama in the annual Cavalier Classic this past weekend, bringing Virginia’s record to 6-0 — the program’s best season-starting record since 2003.
The Cavaliers opened the tournament with a 22-25 first set loss to LIU Brooklyn (3-3), as Virginia hit only .163 compared to the Blackbirds’ .417 mark.
In the second set, the Cavaliers’ offense finally clicked and the team took the second set 25-17. The Cavaliers’ attack percentage in the second set was a stellar .593, the highest of the season so far.
“That’s what our offense is supposed to look like,” Virginia coach Dennis Hohenshelt said.
Virginia’s attack percentage did not remain as high as the second-set benchmark. Instead, the Cavaliers would rely on their defense to close out the match, winning the third and fourth sets 25-21 and 25-22, respectively. Junior outside hitter Kayla Sears led the team with 21 kills.
LIU Brooklyn’s attack percentage was lower than the team’s first and second set attack percentage (.417), as Virginia’s total team blocks and digs increased through the final two sets. The Cavaliers only hit 18 digs in the first two sets combined before adding 41 more in the final two sets. Likewise, the team added seven blocks in the last two sets.
“We were a lot better this weekend than we were last weekend in a lot of phases of the game,” Hohenshelt said.
The Cavaliers returned to the court Saturday morning to face Navy, which fell 3-1 to Alabama the previous night. The Cavaliers cruised to take the first set 25-16, but fell 24-26 in the second set before winning 25-23 and 25-20 in the third and fourth sets to hand Navy its second consecutive loss. Navy (2-4) had three fewer total attack attempts than Virginia, but twice the number of attack errors.
Seeking to become the only undefeated team at the tournament after Alabama (5-2) lost to LIU Brooklyn 3-2, the Cavaliers played their best and toughest match against Alabama in the nightcap to close out the tournament.
“I wanted Alabama to be the featured match on Saturday,” Hohenshelt said. “They’re a really good team. We look forward to playing them maybe again at the end of the year.”
The Cavaliers easily won the first set 25-21 against Alabama after the Crimson Tide hit just .167. In the second set, Alabama’s offense roared to life, hitting .500 and almost taking the second set after Virginia allowed the Crimson Tide to score seven straight points. But the Cavaliers held on to win the second set 25-23.
“We just started to lose our passing a little bit,” Hohenshelt said. “We were in such a good rhythm. They picked up their serve a little bit, and we didn’t really respond to that. They got a little momentum going at the end, and I think it got carried over to the next set. We didn’t really respond right at the gate of game three, so we talked about building our own momentum at the end of game three for the fourth game.”
Alabama got its first lead in the match and beat Virginia 25-18 in the third set after out-hitting and out-blocking the Cavaliers. The Crimson Tide hit .577 in the set compared to the Cavaliers’ .231 and also had 16 assists to Virginia’s 10. On defense, Alabama added four blocks compared to Virginia’s zero.
“In a high-stress situation like that, we just have to look at each other and say, ‘It’s okay: the game’s still in our hand; we can still do something with this,’” junior setter Lauren Fuller said. “We just remained calm, and in the fourth set we set fire and it was so much fun — every single point.’
The Cavaliers would rebound in the fourth set by blocking Alabama seven times to take the back-and-forth fourth set, 25-21.
Junior middle hitter Natalie Bausback finished the game with 11 kills on 17 attempts with no errors for a .647 attack percentage. At one point in the game, she had an attacking percentage of more than .800.
For her efforts in the tournament, she was named the MVP for the second straight week.
“Our passing has been really good the last two weekends, which definitely helps a lot as a middle,” Bausback said.
Bausback also had double digit kills in the LIU Brooklyn and Navy games.
“I think Natalie’s been unbelievable right now,” Hohenshelt said. “It’s been that way every day at the gym. She’s a go-to player for us and is our best blocker. The last two weekends, she’s been our best player every match. I hope she’s the MVP for two more tournaments.”
Fuller was also named to the Cavalier Classic All-Tournament Team along with Bausback.
“Lauren, I would’ve given her a ‘C’ last weekend,” Hohenshelt said. “I didn’t think she was great. I would probably give her an ‘A’ this weekend. There’s still some communication things between her and I that we have to work out, like when I tell her to set something, she needs to set it, but we’ll figure it out. ”
Fuller had 39 more total assists this weekend than last weekend, including a 56-assist performance against LIU Brooklyn.
“I think I was just connecting so much better with my hitters,” Fuller said. “I have faith in all my hitters to put the ball away when I set them.”
Senior outside hitter Tori Janowski had her best game of the tournament against Alabama, driving home 14 kills, two service aces and just two service errors, after committing six service errors against LIU Brooklyn.
“The entire team and myself are so excited, but that doesn’t mean that we can let our ambitions and our work ethnic go down the toilet,” Fuller said. “We have to keep working hard.”
The Cavaliers had Sunday practice off because of their wins, and the players are already looking forward to next weekend.
“Like Coach said, I think we can improve communication with everybody and also stopping runs in games and sliding out really fast,” Bausback said.
The Cavaliers will travel to Illinois to face Loyola, Youngstown State and host Northwestern in the Wildcat Challenge next weekend.
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