In the eyes of Coach Shannon Wells, everything flipped in the second set.
“It really was the second set,” Wells said. "We had 14 errors … 11 of them in the second set … I think that's the moment we weren't really playing U.Va. … [But we’re] not going to over-emphasize anything, we're just going to go back and do what we do every day. We're a better serving team than that.”
Before Friday evening, neither Virginia nor Boston College had yet won a conference match and were each therefore desperately looking to earn one. Unfortunately for the Cavaliers (7-6, 0-3 ACC), the Eagles (12-3, 1-2 ACC) were the ones that earned their first conference win of the season at the Aquatics & Fitness Center with a three-set sweep of Virginia, 25-13, 27-25, 25-21.
The Eagles just seemed to be more skilled. Their offensive strikes were just a little stronger, their defense a little more reactive and their energy higher. While they played hard, where the Cavaliers struggled the most was in keeping services over the net and in the lines. They were also missing key players due to injuries, including senior outside hitters Vivian Miller and Kadynce Boothe and sophomore right side hitter Becca Wight.
“We’ve had five people out,” Wells said. “We had one practice where we didn’t have any hitters.”
What caused the Cavaliers to lose the first set was lost momentum. The first half of the set, every point was extremely close. But a handful of Virginia errors gave Boston College the momentum that it wanted itself.
It helped the Eagles get into a rhythm. Their blocks became harder to recover from — no one was ready to go straight into a dig after being on the offense, even though that type of reaction is necessary for a first-set comeback. And their setter learned how to read the Cavaliers well — thinking she would set her teammates up for a spike, they were not ready when she deftly set it right over the net into a weak spot on the court.
With these tactics, they quickly pulled ahead and took the set 25-13.
Virginia opened up the second set with ire, having quickly recovered from a poor first set. Strike after strike, the Cavaliers did not let up until the Eagles finally broke down and could not return the ball.
At first, a couple of service and attack errors did not stop their stride, and sophomore setter Zoey Dood had a handful of strong serves that forced Boston College to stay on its toes.
Freshman outside hitter Reagan Ennist also knew how to get up to the ball if the Eagles set it too close to the net and strike while they were not ready. The second set was very close, but Virginia began to pull ahead when it mattered most, with just a few points to go in order to take the set. It also seemed to be going well, as an electric first match point in the second set had junior outside hitter Lauryn Bowie running after the ball and almost going into the stands to keep it in play.
But unfortunately for Virginia, the pattern started to set in once again when Virginia kept making mistakes in its offensive attacks. The ball would go just out of bounds and give Boston College another point to keep it in the game, ultimately aiding the Eagles in taking the second set as well, 27-25.
The third set just seemed to put the nail in the coffin. Boston College was not planning on slowing down anytime soon, and Virginia fought extremely hard to stay in the game.
“Today's disappointing,” Wells said. “I think we're feeling a little sorry for ourselves. The reality is, nobody else feels sorry for us, so we're gonna step up.”
The Cavaliers will have another chance to earn a conference win Sunday afternoon, when they host Syracuse at the Aquatics & Fitness Center at 1 p.m.
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