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Virginia Volleyball Knocks Off North Carolina In ACC Championship
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Nov. 21, 2003
ORLANDO, Fla. – The fifth-seeded Virginia volleyball team rallied from a 2-1 deficit to register a 3-2 (26-30, 30-20, 24-30, 30-26, 15-6) come-from-behind victory over fourth-seeded North Carolina Friday afternoon (November 21) in the quarterfinals of the Atlantic Coast Championship at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex. With the victory, the Cavaliers improve to 25-8 on the season and advance to Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. semifinal where they will play the winner of the Georgia Tech/Florida State quarterfinal match. The Tar Heels fall to 19-12 on the season.
With the victory over North Carolina, UVa has now won an ACC Championship match in each of the last six seasons, which is the longest current ACC streak. The Cavaliers’ victory is the team’s sixth five-game victory in seven full-length matches this season. Five of Virginia’s last six matches have gone five games with UVa coming out on top four times, including twice against North Carolina.
Fourth-year middle Shannon Boyle (Cincinnati, Ohio/Ursuline Academy) and first-year outside hitter Lindsay Osco (Rosharon, Texas/Elkins) both slammed a match-high 19 kills in pacing five Cavaliers in double figures in kills. Boyle set a new career-high with her 19 kills and posted a .304 hitting percentage and three block assists. Osco, who was recently named to the ACC’s All-Freshmen Team, tied her career-best with 19 kills and added 24 digs for her eighth double-double of the season. Fourth-year outside hitter Paige Davis (Austin, Texas/Westlake) and second-year outside hitter Kristin Chaney (Johnston, Iowa/Johnston) both notched 13 kills with Chaney setting a career-high. Both players also recorded double-doubles with Davis tallying 21 digs for her fourth consecutive double-double. Davis who earned 2003 All-ACC Second Team honors, also added five block assists. With her 13 kills, Davis has moved into third place on UVa’s career kills list with 1,421. Chaney rounded out her double-double with a season-high 20 digs. Third-year middle Alexis Geocaris (Wilmette, Ill./New Trier) rounded out the five UVa players in double figures in kills with 11 and led the team with seven block assists.
First-year setter Emily Kirkwood (Tampa, Fla./Plant) dished out a match-high 70 assists and also contributed seven digs. Fourth-year libero Whitney Ashcraft (Yorktown, Ind./Burris), who earned 2003 All-ACC First Team honors, registered a match-high tying 27 digs for her 16th consecutive double digit dig performance of the season. Ashcraft holds the eighth spot on the ACC’s career digs list with 1,589 and needs six more to move into seventh place.
Dani Nyenhuis led North Carolina with 16 kills and 22 digs, while Molly Pyles added 14 kills and 21 digs. Aletha Green contributed 12 kills, while Norma Cortez handed out 54 assists. Carolina deRoeck tied Ashcraft for match-high honors in digs with 27.
In the fifth and deciding game, the Cavaliers jumped out to a 6-1 lead and extended their advantage to 12-4 before going on to a 15-6 win to clinch the match. UVa hit .204 in the match with 75 kills, while the Tar Heels hit only .126 with 66 kills. Virginia held a slight 113-111 edge in digs, while UNC won the blocking battle 13.5-10.