The Virginia volleyball team opened the afternoon with its first warm-up drills of volleyball tennis. The first fans trickled into the Aquatic and Fitness Center, filling seats ahead of tip-off. As the teams took the floor, the national anthem played for the first time in the AFC this season, marking the start of the Cavaliers’ Showdown at the Net.
However, none of that mattered once Alabama took the first point. The Crimson Tide (5-1, 0-0 SEC) struck immediately, and the pattern held all night — whichever team scored first in a set went on to win it. Alabama exploited that pattern from the opening whistle, riding its early points to a 3-1 victory over Virginia (3-2, 0-0 ACC).
The Cavaliers started the first set trailing early, 4-9. Trying to find composure, Coach Shannon Wells called a timeout. Answering the call from the home crowd, third-year right side hitter Becca Wight delivered a kill, chipping away at the Alabama lead.
The lead continued to dwindle, and with emphasis, third-year outside hitter Reese Wuebker soared in from the back of the court, sending the ball through the arms of the Alabama defenders awaiting it on the other side.
What followed was a Virginia run that put the Cavaliers up 21-16, their largest lead of the night so far. But as the Cavaliers did constantly throughout the match, they let the Crimson Tide hang around, and soon enough the lead was cut on a 4-0 scoring run, making it 22-22.
The atmosphere thickened as fans in the bleachers inched closer and closer, their cheers growing more emphatic with each point, awaiting the final verdict as the score eventually passed the 25-point mark. Then an Alabama knuckleball serve resulted in an ace, deciding the first set.
Just as in the first set, Alabama struck first in the second set, and Virginia again fell behind early, 5-10. But the Cavaliers kept cutting into the lead. Trailing 10-13, second-year outside hitter Reagan Ennist delivered the spark the second set needed. Two big blocks from Virginia then cut Alabama's lead to one point, and a diving pancake set up a Wuebker kill that gave the Cavaliers a two-point lead.
The teams traded points until déjà vu struck, with the score tied again, 23-23. Then the Crimson Tide scored two straight to claim the second set.
With Virginia down 0-2, more than a change of sides was needed, and the third set provided it.
Wuebker opened the set with two serves that developed into a two-point lead. That lead only grew as the Cavaliers never let the Crimson Tide catch up. The most defining stretch of the set came on a five-point run that built the largest lead of the set, 13 points. Fourth-year outside hitter Lauryn Bowie highlighted that run, scoring three of the five points on two kills and an assisted block. Once the Cavaliers reached that 13-point lead, they did not look back, closing out the set with a win.
Hope began to rekindle in the AFC, but it quickly dwindled as the most prophetic sign of the entire match unfolded — the Tide scored the first points of the fourth set.
Alabama dove straight into a 7-1 lead, leaving the Cavaliers playing catch-up the rest of the set. And unlike in the first two sets, the Cavaliers did not manage to keep it close, ultimately losing the fourth and final set, 25-16.
A readiness to show up early defined the four sets of the match. Though the Cavaliers had two opportunities to take the win they let their grasp of it slip before them.
“The reality is, we lost the first two sets by just a couple of points, so there are some things we can easily clean up when we get some practice time,” said Coach Wells.
The Cavaliers will look to bounce back quickly as they travel to Florida to face UCF Saturday at 2 p.m.
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