The last game played in Memorial Gymnasium was Dec. 8, 2024, before the 22-month renovation began. After a season of bouncing back and forth between the Aquatic & Fitness Center and John Paul Jones Arena, Virginia volleyball was supposed to return to Memorial Gymnasium for the beginning of the 2026-27 season. However, due to unexpected additional construction, the start date was pushed back to this past weekend against conference rival Duke Friday, followed by a match against No. 25 North Carolina Sunday.
And while the court looked shiny and plenty of fans huddled into the new bleachers, the weekend went far from planned. Instead of securing two wins during the gym’s opening weekend, they suffered two losses, extending their losing streak to five.
The Cavaliers (5-10, 1-5 ACC) played the Blue Devils (12-4, 4-2 ACC) Friday evening in what turned out to be a highly contested game at the net. Duke won the first set against Virginia, 25-20, before the Cavaliers were able to preserve and win sets two and three, 25-22 and 25-20. After dropping the fourth set, Virginia headed to the fifth hoping to close out a win. However, the Blue Devils had other plans, never trailing in the final set despite the Cavaliers’ rally. The set ended at 15-13 and Virginia suffered yet another brutal loss.
But Sunday was a new day and a fresh start against a different team from the Old North State — the Tar Heels (11-3, 6-0 ACC).
Virginia started its match against the national powerhouse in what had the potential to be an incredibly competitive set. But after North Carolina went up 6-5, the set ran at their own pace. A 5-0 run put the Tar Heels up 11-5 and despite a 3-0 run by the Cavaliers, nothing was going to intimidate them. North Carolina’s five blocks in the first set helped them secure the 25-13 win and sent Virginia back to the drawing board.
The Cavaliers started the second set up 3-1 before going down 7-4. Similar to the first set, the Tar Heels once again racked up five blocks in addition to 16 kills, including five from junior middle blocker Jackie Taylor. A commanding 6-0 run ended the second set for North Carolina and took out Virginia’s confidence at 25-16.
By the end of the second set, the Tar Heels were running circles around the Cavaliers statistically. North Carolina had 28 kills to Virginia’s 17, 10 blocks to seven and a .328 hitting percentage compared to .014 — an absurd difference in play.
The Cavaliers simply looked tired in the third set, falling behind 21-11. Like the first two sets, the Tar Heels never relented en route to a 25-15 win, delivering Virginia its second loss of the weekend and fifth in a row.
Overall, the weekend was unproductive for the Cavaliers. Losing to Duke after leading 2-1 was a blow to their confidence and a sweep at the hands of bitter rival North Carolina furthered the damage — not to mention that the latter was Virginia’s fifth consecutive conference loss. There is no question that adjustments and changes must be made to compete in a tough conference.
Virginia returns to Memorial Gymnasium Wednesday to play rival Virginia Tech in their first match of the Commonwealth Clash. The second match will be played Friday in Blacksburg, presenting an interesting back-to-back matchup. The first game is set to start at 7 p.m. Wednesday evening and will be streamed on the ACC Network.
Read More
No. 14 Virginia women’s soccer earns long-awaited road win, dismantling SMU late
By Sofie Keppler | 35 minutes agoVirginia (7-3-2, 3-3-0 ACC) saw three strikes hit the back of the net as the clock ticked down late in the second half to break open a game that SMU (5-5-4, 0-4-2 ACC) fought the entire second period to equalize.
Sometimes dreams come true. Chris Messmore’s has this year.
By Cierra Lyles | 7 hours agoThe communications intern thought his football fantasy had ended years ago, but made the most of his opportunity once he was called upon his fourth year.
On Homecomings Weekend, the Cardiac Cavaliers return in triumph over Syracuse
By Theo Moll | 11 hours agoDown big early on, the Cavaliers were never daunted. The Virginia offense battled back throughout the second half, while the defense held on just enough to secure a victory over the visiting Orange.
