The 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 set victory over Virginia (3-2, 0-0 ACC).
Lessons learned from a summer in the ravenous soccer town of Burlington, Vt. might be just what Virginia soccer's finest needed to help the team overcome an early-season slump.
In the Cavaliers’ first contest under the Friday night lights since the trajectory-altering win against Florida State last season, Virginia faces the FCS-level Spartans (1-1, 0-0 MEAC) of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.
While there is some evidence to believe the hype may be warranted, there are also reasons to cool one’s jets in favor of a more measured response.
“It’s progress,” Virginia Coach George Gelnovatch said.
The Cavaliers, with perhaps the most covered victory of Week Zero, appear to have launched into ACC contender status.
In a back-and-forth battle defined by defensive physicality and backline saves, the Hoyas and the Cavaliers were both held scoreless after 90 minutes of action.
After spending most of the game dominating the flow of play, the Cavaliers were ultimately left chasing an equalizer that never came in the fourth quarter. The loss marked Virginia's first of the season and brought an abrupt end to what had been an impressive opening stretch for the Cavaliers.
Taking the court against their host, the Cavaliers (3-1, 0-0 ACC) annihilated the Rams (1-3, 0-0 A-10) in straight sets, 25-13, 25-17, 25-22.
“You know you’re good enough,” Burns wrote. “Do what you do, baby.”
The Cavaliers have all the makings of a team poised to win the ugly battles with their experienced group of linemen.
Virginia spent the first quarter looking for a breakthrough. At the outset of their first game of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge in neutral site Piscataway, N.J., the Cavaliers (2-0, 0-0, ACC) worked around Rutgers (1-2, 0-0, Big Ten), with occasional interruptions in the midfield as the two top 25 teams tried to evaluate each other.
Thursday’s affair proved to be, especially in the early stages of the game, a bit of a wake up call for Virginia. Tennessee came out of the gates looking like a much better team, with clearly superior energy, a point that the Cavaliers’ head coach Steve Swanson emphasized postgame.
The Cavaliers (2-1, 0-0 ACC) opened the match with a narrow win in the first set before their opponents rallied to blow open the second, tying the match at one set apiece. Virginia fought through a tight third set to retake the lead, then closed it out for a four-set victory over the Tribe (1-3, 0-0 CAA), 25-23, 15-25, 25-19, 25-21.
On a hot and humid first day of September, the song of the same name by Earth, Wind & Fire played over the loudspeaker during pre-match warm-ups. The lyrics of that song go “Dancin’ in September,” and the Cavaliers (1-1, 0-0 ACC) had reason to by the end of the night, winning in four sets against Liberty (2-2, 0-0 Conference USA), 25-17, 26-24, 25-9 and 25-18.
The Cavaliers spent their offseason improving their craft in wood-bat summer baseball leagues.
Despite being off to a rough start, there are still plenty of things that make this Virginia squad both a candidate for redemption and an interesting watch.
The success of this pass-catching unit will likely come down to how Kitchings, Coach Tony Elliott and quarterback Beau Pribula incorporate all of these talents into a coherent offensive scheme.
Little did Virginia know a 53-minute rain delay wouldn't be the most unusual part of the evening.
Ahead of the new season, three Cavalier Daily writers mull over Virginia’s chances to meet that high bar once again.
