Virginia Volleyball Cruises To 3-0 Win Over NC State
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Oct. 28, 2006
RALEIGH, N.C. – The Virginia volleyball team used a balanced offensive attack and strong serving to notch a 3-0 (30-16, 30-27, 30-17) victory over NC State Saturday evening (Oct. 28) at Reynolds Coliseum. The victory marked the Cavaliers’ 23rd consecutive win over NC State. UVa improved its winning streak to four straight matches and now stands at 17-6 overall and 10-4 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Wolfpack suffered its 15th consecutive loss on the season and drop to 2-20 overall and 0-13 in the ACC.
A night after surpassing the 5,000-career assist milestone, fourth-year setter Emily Kirkwood (Tampa, Fla.) tied the school record for career service aces with her 154th during the first game. She tied Andrea Fischer’s school record which was established in 2001. Kirkwood also added 35 assists, five digs, two blocks and two kills.
Emily Kirkwood may have tied school record for service aces, but it was her younger sister, third-year outside hitter Sarah Kirkwood (Tampa, Fla.), who stole the show with a season-high tying six aces in the match. UVa tallied 11 aces as a team. Sarah Kirkwood also added 10 kills and six digs in the contest.
Fourth-year outside hitter Lindsay Osco (Houston, Texas) led all players with 11 kills in the match. Osco hit an impressive .474 and also had three aces, two digs and two assists. Third-year middle Katie Oakes (Lorton, Va.) contributed 10 kills to UVa’s balanced offense. She also tied second-year middle Shannon Davis (Austin, Texas) for team-high honors in blocks with three. Davis had five kills and hit .364 as well. First-year outside hitter Lauren Dickson (Austin, Texas) registered seven kills, five digs and two blocks. Third-year libero Melissa Caldwell (Houston, Texas) paced the Cavaliers defensively with a match-best 12 digs, while third-year defensive specialist Beth Shelton (Cincinnati, Ohio) tallied nine digs.
Keshia Raibon led NC State with nine kills and nine digs. Chrissy Zirpolo also had nine kills and tallied seven digs. Allison Davis handed out 23 assists and added eight digs and three blocks. Andrea Bentley posted 11 digs.
The Cavaliers hit .284 in the match with 45 kills and only 14 attack errors. NC State managed only 27 kills and hit just .029. Virginia led 11-4 in service aces while both teams had seven blocks. The Wolfpack held a slight 48-45 edge in digs.
UVa never trailed in the first game and won 30-16. The Cavaliers had only nine kills in the first game, but NC State committed 13 attack errors. Sarah Kirkwood served up three of her six aces in the game. In game two, Virginia rallied from a 24-19 deficit to win 30-27. The Wolfpack led 27-26, but UVa took advantage of two NCSU attack errors and a pair of Osco kills to score the final four points of the game and take a 2-0 lead. The Cavaliers closed out the match with a 30-17 victory in the third game. Sarah Kirkwood slammed seven of her 10 kills in the match during the third frame and helped UVa hit .500 as a team.
Virginia returns home to Memorial Gym next weekend for a pair of matches. UVa hosts Maryland on Friday (Nov. 3) at 7:00 p.m. and Boston College on Saturday (Nov. 4) at 5:00 p.m.