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Oct. 10, 2003
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – First-year outside hitter Lindsay Osco (Rosharon, Texas/Elkins) slammed 14 kills in the final three games to lift the Virginia volleyball team to a 3-1 (30-28, 29-31, 30-25, 30-28) victory over Florida State Friday evening (October 10) at Memorial Gym. With the victory, UVa snapped a three-match losing streak and improved to 18-4 overall and 2-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The win also ended the Cavaliers’ five-match losing streak in the all-time series to the Seminoles, who fall to 9-8 overall and 1-4 in the ACC this season.
Osco came off the bench to tally a team-high 14 kills and added seven digs and three blocks to lead the Cavaliers to the victory. Fourth-year outside hitter Paige Davis (Austin, Texas/Westlake) added 13 kills, three blocks and a pair of assists. Third-year middle Alexis Geocaris (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) added nine kills and tied fourth-year middle Shannon Boyle (Cincinnati, Ohio/Ursuline Academy) for team high honors in blocks with six. Boyle also added seven kills and three digs.
Fourth-year All-ACC libero Whitney Ashcraft (Yorktown, Ind./Burris) led UVa’s defensive effort with 17 digs. With her 17 digs, Ashcraft moved into fifth place on UVa’s all-time digs list with 1,366. She needs 16 more digs to move all the way up into second place on the Cavaliers’ career digs list. First-year setter Emily Kirkwood (Tampa, Fla./Plant) tallied 14 digs and 27 assists for her third career double-double. First-year setter Kathleen Branagh (Lafayette, Calif./Campolindo) had 20 assists and eight digs.
Florida State had four players reach double figures in kills with Nikki Anthony leading the way with 16. Cassie McLaughlin had 15 kills and added seven digs, five assists, four blocks, and two service aces. Sarah Griffin and Aisha Carr rounded out the Seminoles in double figure kills with 14 and 11, respectively. Setter Jennifer Anderson recorded a double-double with 47 assists and 10 digs.
Three of the four games were decided by two points. The Cavaliers won the first game 30-28 with FSU rebounding with a 31-29 victory in game two. Virginia grabbed a 2-1 lead with a 30-25 win in the third game. UVa clinched the match with a 30-28 win in game four. The Seminoles had 13 of their 36 hitting errors in game four.
Florida State held a slight advantage in hitting percentage at .194 compared to UVa’s .174 percentage. FSU, however, had six more hitting errors than the Cavaliers (36-30). The Seminoles also had 71 kills to UVa’s 58. The Cavaliers held 14-9 and 6-3 advantages in team blocks and service aces, respectively, as well as a slim 60-59 edge in digs.
Virginia continues its four-match homestand on Saturday, October 11 when it hosts N.C. State at 5:00 p.m. at Memorial Gym. Admission is free of charge.