Story Links
Aug. 29, 2003
BATON ROUGE, La. – The Virginia volleyball team improved to 2-0 in the Tiger Classic by defeating host Louisiana State 3-0 (30-21, 30-23, 30-23) Friday evening (August 29) at Pete Maravich Assembly Center. LSU falls to 1-1 with the loss. Earlier in the day Friday, the Cavaliers opened their 25th anniversary season with a 3-0 (30-24, 30-24, 31-29) victory over Alabama-Birmingham. UVa is now 2-0 on the season.
Fourth-year outside hitter Paige Davis (Austin, Texas/Westlake) paced the Cavaliers in the victory with 13 kills, a .393 hitting percentage and 14.5 points. She also added five digs and three blocks. Third-year outside hitter Celeste Laborde (New Orleans, La./Academy of the Sacred Heart) and first-year outside hitter Lindsay Osco (Rosharon, Texas/Elkins) both tallied seven kills, while Osco also added 10 digs. Third-year middle Alexis Geocaris (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) registered a match-high nine blocks to go along with four kills in eight attempts for 10 points. First-year setter Emily Kirkwood (Tampa, Fla./Plant) totaled 22 assists and six digs, while first-year setter Kathleen Branagh (Lafayette, Calif./Campolindo) added 15 assists.
Fourth-year All-ACC libero Whitney Ashcraft (Yorktown, Ind./Burris) surpassed the 1,000 dig milestone with her fifth dig of the match. She tallied a match-high 13 digs and now has 1,008 in her career. She became the ninth UVa player to reach the 1,000 dig plateau.
Regan Hood led Louisiana State with 13 kills and seven digs, while Megan Heinz added 11 kills. Setter Daniela Romero handed out 30 assists.
Virginia hit an impressive .305 in the match with 43 kills and just 11 errors in 105 attempts. The Tigers hit only .059 in the contest (44 kills, 36 errors, 136 attempts). UVa also held an 11-6 edge in blocks.
The Cavaliers conclude play in the Tiger Classic with a noon match Saturday (August 30) against Centenary.