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Virginia Volleyball Rallies For 3-2 Victory Over Clemson
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Nov. 25, 2005
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The University of Virginia volleyball team lost the first two games to Clemson, but rallied to take the next three for a 3-2 (27-30, 27-30, 30-16, 30-28, 15-13) victory over the Tigers Friday evening (November 25) at Memorial Gym. With the victory, UVa improves to 20-10 overall and 15-6 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Clemson ends its season with a 12-18 overall record and a 7-15 mark in the ACC.
Second-year outside hitter Sarah Kirkwood (Tampa, Fla./Plant) led UVa with 23 kills while hitting .389. She also had 11 digs for her 12th double-double of the season. First-year middle Shannon Davis (Austin, Texas/Westlake) hit .424 in registering her 20 kills and also added five blocks. Second-year middle Katie Oakes (Lorton, Va./Evangel Christian School) hit a match-high .485 and set a new career high with 18 kills. She also had four blocks and three assists. Third-year outside hitter Lindsay Osco (Houston, Texas/Elkins) rounded out the Cavaliers in double figures in kills with 16 and led all players with four service aces.
Third-year setter Emily Kirkwood (Tampa, Fla./Plant) dished out a season-high 72 assists and also added six digs, five blocks, three kills and three aces. Four Cavaliers registered double digits in digs. In addition to Sarah Kirkwood’s 11, second-year libero Melissa Caldwell (Houston, Texas/Stratford) tied for match-high honors with 17, while third-year outside hitter Emily Perilli (Thompson’s Station, Tenn./Page) and second-year outside hitter Beth Shelton (Cincinnati, Ohio/Ursula Academy) had 15 and 13, respectively.
Brittany Ross and Jeannette Abbott combined for 49 kills to lead Clemson. Ross had a match-high 26 kills and hit .339, while Abbott posted 23 kills and 10 digs for a double-double. Meghan Steiner hit .364 with 11 kills and led the Tigers with six blocks. Setter Courtney Lawrence handed out 59 assists and added nine digs, while Anna Vallinch shared match-high honors in digs with 17.
The Cavaliers lost the first two games by identical 30-27 scores. The Cavaliers came out of the intermission on fire and registered a 30-16 win in game three to pull within one game. UVa trailed 27-24 in the fourth game, but back-to-back kills by Osco and Oakes and a bad Clemson set tied the game at 27-27. An ace Beth Shelton followed by another kill by Osco gave the Cavaliers a 29-27 lead. After a UVa service error, Osco closed the fourth game with her sixth kill of the frame. In the deciding fifth game, Virginia raced out to a 4-0 lead only to see the Tigers tie the game at 4-4. Clemson then took an 8-5 lead and also led 11-9, forcing a Virginia timeout. Osco slammed a kill out of the timeout and Oakes followed with back-to-back terminators to give the Cavaliers a 12-11 advantage. The Tigers’ Ross and UVa’s Sarah Kirkwood traded kills twice, which made the score 14-13 in favor of Virginia. The Cavaliers completed the comeback on Davis’ 20th kill of the match.
The Cavaliers hit an impressive .351 in the match with a season-high 87 kills. Clemson hit .275 with 71 kills. UVa held a slight 65-64 edge in digs, while the Tigers won the blocking battle 10-9. Virginia, which leads the ACC in service aces, tallied 12 in the match, compared to seven for Clemson.
The Cavaliers close out the regular season by hosting Georgia Tech on Senior Night on Saturday (November 26) at 5:00 p.m. at Memorial Gym. Admission is free of charge.