October has been a challenging month for Virginia volleyball, as it has balanced rearranged lineups, a handful of injuries and the start of challenging ACC play. Sunday, the Cavaliers (8-8, 1-5) found some respite in the injury department as senior outside hitter Kadynce Boothe returned to play. But Boothe’s return was coupled with a road matchup against No. 5 Louisville, which currently sits at the top of the ACC, and the Cardinals (14-2, 6-0 ACC) defeated the Cavaliers, 25-11, 25-21, 23-25, 25-17 despite a strong Virginia effort to win the third set.
Virginia certainly felt Boothe’s return to the court as she tallied 13 kills on the night, second only to freshman outside hitter Reagan Ennist’s 14. On the defensive end, junior defensive specialists Katie Barrier and Meredith Reeg tallied 17 and 16 digs, respectively.
While another conference loss is disappointing for the Cavaliers, who now have just one ACC win on the season, pushing the match to a fourth set against a top-ranked team should give Virginia hope. Such a performance and more will be necessary in the future, but Sunday proved there is at least some part of Virginia volleyball that can hang with a national powerhouse.
The Cavaliers opened the match slowly, struggling to stop Louisville’s dominant offense. Virginia trailed for the entire set, petering out and allowing the Cardinals to win off of an eight-point run featuring six kills. While the Cavaliers played a relatively clean set by only making seven errors from its 25 points lost, it was evident they struggled to respond defensively to a strong Louisville offense.
Moving into the second set, Virginia managed to keep the Cardinals within reach, scoring the first point of the set and forcing multiple lead changes and ties. Junior outside hitter Lauryn Bowie and Ennist each contributed three kills to keep the Cavaliers in the set. However, Louisville broke away in the second half of the set, and two runs with three consecutive points left Virginia down two sets to none and in need of a third set win to extend the match.
This is exactly what Virginia did — the Cavaliers gritted their teeth, finding continued and elevated success in Boothe and Ennist. The duo notched seven kills each across the entire set. They contributed greatly to Virginia’s eight-point run midway through the set as well, bringing the Cavaliers to a 21-11 lead — a complete reversal of the first two sets. Despite a concerted effort from the Cardinals, which brought the score to 24-23, Boothe closed the set out with a kill.
However, the momentum once again returned to Louisville as it kicked off the fourth set with three unanswered points and continued to give the Cavaliers trouble all set. Two five-point runs later solidified the home team’s advantage. While the fourth-set margin was smaller than that of the first set, Virginia still fell significantly behind the Cardinals, such that continued strong performances from Ennist, Boothe and Bowie were not enough.
This latest ACC loss places Virginia in a tough position, moving the Cavaliers to second-to-last in the conference standings. But it is no easy feat to take a set away from the Cardinals, who have swept eight of their opponents and dropped just 12 sets across 16 matches so far. With Boothe back in the mix and Ennist continuing to lead the way, it may be taking awhile for the Cavaliers to find their footing — but they will hope that it is better late than never.
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