Volleyball Earns Fourth Seed In ACC Championships

Story Links

Nov. 15, 1999

GREENSBORO, N.C. – The University of Virginia has received the fourth seedin the 1999 Atlantic Coast Conference Volleyball Championship. TheCavaliers will play fifth-seeded Duke on Friday, November 19 at Disney’sWide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Fla. The ACC Championship beginswith two matches on Thursday, November 18, and concludes with thechampionship match on Sunday, November 21 at 3:30 p.m.

Virginia, under the direction of fifth-year head coach Melissa AldrichShelton, currently stands at 17-10 on the season and concluded ACC playwith a 9-7 mark. UVa had its two-match winning streak snapped with a 3-0loss to 25th-ranked North Carolina on Saturday. Duke is 13-13 overall and7-9 in the ACC. The Blue Devils have played well as of late, winning fourmatches in a row before dropping a 3-0 decision to 13th-ranked Clemson onSaturday.

The Cavaliers defeated Duke 3-0 in both meetings this season, buttrail the Blue Devils 23-7 in the all-time series. Virginia has won thepast four meetings with Duke. The series dates back to 1982 and betweenthen and 1995, Duke won 19 of 21 meetings. Since 1996, UVa leads theseries 5-4.

Virginia is 5-23 all-time in the ACC Tournament. The Cavaliershave not had good fortunes against Duke in the ACC Tournament either, asthey are 0-5 against the Blue Devils and have not won a single game. UVahas suffered three 3-0 setbacks against Duke in the quarterfinals in 1986,1994 and 1996. In 1989, the Cavaliers fell 3-0 in the semifinals and in1991 they dropped a 3-0 decision to the Blue Devils in the finals.

In the first meeting of the 1999 season in Durham, N.C., on October8, third-year middle blocker Deanna Zwarich (Overland Park, Kan./ShawneeMission) led Virginia to a 15-9, 16-14, 15-11win at Cameron Indoor Stadiumwith 22 kills and 11 digs. Zwarich connected on 22 kills with just fourerrors on 39 attempts. Fourth-year setter Mary Frances Scott (Phoenix,Ariz./Xavier College Prep) dished out 59 assists for an average of 19.7 pergame. In the second meeting on October 23 at University Hall, third-yearoutside hitter Andrea Fischer (Santa Barbara, Calif./Santa Barbara) hit animpressive .526 to lead the ‘Hoos to a 19-17, 15-10, 15-12 triumph.Fischer tallied 11 kills with only three errors in 19 attempts in thematch.

Virginia has been led by the play of a pair of seniors, Scott andmiddle blocker Jessica Parsons (Green Oaks, Ill./Libertyville). Scott hasdished out 1,315 assists for a career best average of 13.4 per game in1999. She is second on the ACC all-time assist list and currently ranks16th among NCAA Division I players in career assists with 5,877. Thefour-year starting setter is also third on UVa’s career digs list with1,323 and fifth in total blocks with 307. In 1999, Scott is second on theteam with 288 digs and has posted a career–high 80 total blocks.

Parsons, a 1998 All-ACC first team selection, has had an impressivecampaign for the Cavaliers as well. She leads the ‘Hoos with 375 kills in1999 and has also set a career high with 254 digs. With 107 total blocks,Parsons has topped the 100-block plateau for the third-consecutive year.Parsons ranks third on Virginia’s all-time total blocks list (443) andfourth in kills (1,293).

The Cavaliers have also had a trio of third year players step tothe forefront in 1999: Zwarich , Fischer and outside hitter Katie Jones(Kingwood, Texas/Kingwood).

Zwarich has set career highs in kills (357) and digs (243) in 1999.Her kills total is good for second on the team, while the digs ranksfourth. Zwarich has also registered 98 total blocks and needs just twomore to surpass 100-block milestone for the third-straight season. With301 career blocks, Zwarich ranks sixth all-time at Virginia in thatcategory.

Jones leads the Cavaliers with 315 digs for an average of 3.2 pergame and also tops the club with a career-high 34 service aces. She isalso second behind Scott in assists with 30.

Fischer is third on the team with 272 kills and leads the squadwith a .245 hitting percentage. With 59 total blocks, Fischer is just fourshy of equaling her career best. She also ranks among the team leaders inservice aces with 31.

The entire 1999 ACC Volleyball Championship bracket follows.

Thursday, November 18#7 NC State vs. #8 Maryland	    	5:00 p.m.#1 Clemson vs. #9 Florida State		7:30 p.m.

Friday, November 19#4 Virginia vs. #5 Duke 2:00 p.m.#2 North Carolina vs. Winner #7/#8 4:30 p.m.#3 Wake Forest vs. #6 Georgia Tech 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, November 20Winner #1/#9 vs. Winner #4/#5 4:30 p.m.Winner #2/#7-#8 vs. Winner #3/#6 7:00 p.m.

Sunday, November 21Finals 3:30 p.m.

-UVa-

Bill HurdAssistant Athletic Media Relations DirectorUniversity of VirginiaP.O. Box 3785Charlottesville, VA 22903Phone: (804) 982-5500Home: (804) 244-2907Fax: (804) 982-5525e-Mail: wlh4q@virginia.edu