The points kept tallying, and with every one, the gymnasium seemed to hum louder. But it was Virginia watching the scoreboard tilt away from them, and it was the Ohio State bench filling the arena with noise. The visitors' energy swallowed the home crowd whole, leaving Cavalier fans searching in silence for the closely knit five-set battle that had defined their team just one match earlier.
Ohio State (7-3, 0-0 Big Ten) waltzed into the Aquatic and Fitness Center and took two back-to-back wins against an injury-riddled Virginia (4-5, 0-0 ACC). The Cavaliers battled through nearly two hours of back-and-forth play in the first match, only to see the fight disappear entirely in the second, as the Buckeyes controlled every set from start to finish.
The Cavaliers, feeling the energy of the AFC crowd, jumped out to an early lead in the first set. But they let the Buckeyes linger, and the lead slipped into an 11-5 deficit. Ohio State claimed the second set as well, winning 25-16.
After falling two sets down, the Cavaliers rallied for a comeback. Third-year outside hitter Reese Wuebker and second-year outside hitter Reagan Ennist traded kills that kept the set tied at 13-13, with a Wuebker kill closing it out.
The Cavaliers carried an early lead into the fourth set and claimed it as well, pushing the match to five. An intense battle followed in the fifth set, tied all the way to the tenth point, but Virginia ultimately fell in the final set on a 5-1 run from the Buckeyes.
"Anytime you go down 0-2 and are able to force a fifth set — how can you not be proud of the effort?" Coach Shannon Wells said.
Returning to the AFC, the Cavaliers hoped to come out on the other side of a closely contested matchup. But Ohio State had other plans.
The first set opened with an early Buckeyes lead. The Cavaliers mounted a slight comeback, cutting the deficit to three, but an 11-5 run closed the set. Similarly to the first match, the Cavaliers dropped the second set as well, trailing for nearly the entire frame.
After losing the first two sets, the Cavaliers did not lose hope. As in the previous match, they had an opportunity to make a comeback.
It was the Buckeyes who refused to let the Cavaliers hang around, cruising to an opening 8-1 lead and taking the third and final set of the AFC home doubleheader.
The fight seemed to disappear in that second match, but underlying the loss were injuries and new starters scattered throughout the lineup. First-year middle Skylar Gates and first-year defensive specialist Ruby McDermott both made their first starts.
McDermott did not just make her first start — she was also forced to play out of position at libero, with two of Virginia's liberos sidelined for the match.
“Obviously, losing two of our liberos is tough. We struggled passing today,” Wells said.
Players stepping into unfamiliar positions and making their first starts brought their own set of struggles, and those growing pains may well have contributed to the sweep. With Ohio State marking the end of Virginia’s non-conference slate, the Cavaliers will need their full roster healthy as ACC play begins.
“We challenged ourselves, so we are ready for the ACC,” Wells said. “We could have scheduled a little easier so our record looks better, but we would have stepped into ACC play and not been ready. Playing teams like Ohio State, Alabama, and UCF is the kind of talent we're going to see across the net.”
Virginia will look to regroup quickly, as the Cavaliers travel to face Clemson Sept. 25 in their ACC opener. After a non-conference slate designed to test them against high-level talent, Wells and her squad will find out immediately whether that preparation translates into results.
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