Virginia Volleyball Holds On For 3-2 Win Over Florida State
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Nov. 10, 2006
TALLAHASSEE. Fla. – The University of Virginia volleyball team nearly let a 2-0 lead slip away, but the Cavaliers hung on for a 3-2 (30-28, 30-22, 23-30, 24-30, 16-14) victory over Florida State Friday evening (Nov. 10) at Lucy McDaniel Court. With the win, UVa sets a new school record with its seventh-consecutive Atlantic Coast Conference victory. The Cavaliers now stand at 20-6 overall, marking their 10th 20-win season in school history. UVa is 13-4 in the ACC, solidifying its second-place standing in the conference. The Seminoles fall to 16-10 overall and 10-7 in the ACC.
The Cavaliers built a 2-0 lead only to see Florida State take games three and four to knot the contest at 2-2. With the score tied at 9-9 in the fifth and deciding game, UVa scored back-to-back points to take an 11-9 lead and stretched their advantage to 14-11 on a kill by first-year outside hitter Lauren Dickson (Austin, Texas). Florida State rallied with three straight points to tie the match at 14-14. After a Virginia timeout, third-year outside hitter Sarah Kirkwood (Tampa, Fla.) ended the drama with back-to-back kills to give the Cavaliers a 16-14 win.
Dickson and Kirkwood paced UVa with 18 and 16 kills, respectively. Kirkwood also added 15 digs for her team-best 11th double-double of the season. Kirkwood also slammed five service aces to increase her career total to 158 and tie her older sister, fourth-year setter Emily Kirkwood (Tampa, Fla.), for Virginia’s all-time aces record. Dickson also had five digs and two blocks.
Emily Kirkwood tallied 52 assists, seven digs, four kills and three blocks in addition to her 158th career service ace. Second-year middle Shannon Davis (Austin, Texas) tallied 12 kills and five blocks, while fourth-year outside hitter Lindsay Osco (Houston, Texas) had 11 kills, a career-high six blocks, three assists, three digs and a pair of service aces. Fourth-year Emily Perilli (Thompson’s Station, Tenn.) had a solid match while playing middle for the Cavaliers. She tallied six kills, 15 digs, a season and match-high seven blocks and three aces. Third-year libero Melissa Caldwell (Houston, Texas) led UVa’s defensive effort with a match-high tying 19 digs while adding a career-best four assists.
Makini Thompson led Florida State with 26 kills while hitting .407. Brianna Barry added nine kills while hitting .571 to go along with six blocks. Setter Zrinka Tomic totaled 47 assists, 19 digs and four blocks, while Summer Weissing posted 16 digs.
UVa had 67 kills in the match, but hit only .139 due to 38 attack errors. Florida State hit .229 in the contest with 66 kills and 26 errors. Virginia held a 12-5 advantage in service aces, while the Seminoles led 14-13 in team blocks and 91-74 in digs.
Virginia returns to action on Saturday (Nov. 11) when it travels to Coral Gables, Fla., for a 7:30 p.m. match against Miami.