Virginia Volleyball Falls To Clemson 3-0
Story Links
Nov. 24, 2006
CLEMSON, S.C. – The Virginia volleyball team suffered a 3-0 (30-22, 30-25, 30-28) loss to Clemson Friday evening (Nov. 24) in its attempt to secure second place outright in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings. With the loss, the Cavaliers drop to 22-8 overall and 15-6 in the ACC. Clemson improves to 20-10 overall and finishes ACC play with a 15-7 record.
Second-year middle Shannon Davis (Austin, Texas) and third-year outside hitter Sarah Kirkwood (Tampa, Fla.) led Virginia with 12 kills apiece. Davis hit a match-best .588 with her 12 kills and only two errors on 17 attempts. Davis also led UVa with four blocks, including two solo stops. In addition to her 12 kills, Kirkwood tallied four digs, three assists and a solo block. First-year outside hitter Lauren Dickson (Austin, Texas) added eight kills while hitting .444.
Fourth-year setter Emily Kirkwood (Tampa, Fla.) handed out 28 assists and added five digs, three kills, two service aces and a block. With the two aces, Kirkwood tied the school record for career aces with 164, which is also held by her younger sister, Sarah. Second-year defensive specialist Beth Shelton (Cincinnati, Ohio) also had two aces and posted seven digs. Third-year libero Melissa Caldwell (Houston, Texas) led UVa with eight digs.
Jeannette Abbott led Clemson with 18 kills and a .389 hitting percentage. Leslie Mansfield totaled 13 kills, seven digs and three blocks, while Danielle Hepburn tallied 10 kills and five blocks. Setter Kelsey Murphy registered a double-double with 42 assists and 10 digs, while Didem Ege recorded a match-high 17 digs.
The Cavaliers hit only .158 in the match with 41 kills, while Clemson registered a .304 hitting percentage with 52 kills. The Tigers held a 50-37 advantage in digs, while UVa led 6-1 in services aces and 7-6 in team blocks.
Clemson hit .371 and had four team blocks in posting a 30-22 win in the first game. Davis had four kills in the first game, while Shelton recorded her two aces. The Tigers maintained their hot hitting while winning the second game 30-25. Clemson hit .316 in the second frame and UVa managed to hit only .190. Davis and Kirkwood both had four kills in the second game for Virginia. The Cavaliers nearly pulled out a victory in the third game, but Clemson held on for a 30-28 win to close out the match. UVa trailed 17-12, but came back to tie game three at 28-28 on a service ace by fourth-year Emily Perilli (Thompson’s Station, Tenn.). Abbott gave the Tigers a 29-28 lead with her 18th kill of the match and a UVa attack error accounted for the final Clemson point.
Virginia wraps up the regular season on Saturday (Nov. 25) when it travels to Atlanta, Ga., for a 7:30 p.m. match against Georgia Tech.