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Cavaliers Fall in Four to Yellow Jackets
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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Virginia volleyball team dropped a close match to Georgia Tech Friday evening in its home Atlantic Coast Conference opener, 1-3 (20-25, 29-27, 23-25, 21-25). With the loss, the Cavaliers fall to 8-6 on the season and 0-2 in the conference, while Georgia Tech improves to 10-2 and 2-0 in ACC play.
Third-year Lauren Dickson (Austin, Texas) led the Cavaliers with her sixth double-double this season, tying a season-high of 17 kills and collecting a career-high 21 digs. First-year Simone Asque (Chicago, Ill.) notched her second career double-double, with 10 kills and 15 digs, while Brittani Rendina dug a career-high 22 attacks. Fourth-year Shannon Davis (Austin, Texas) knocked down 11 kills and hit .400 for the match.
Fourth-year Marlow Bruneau (Lakeville, Minn.) and second-year Kelly Irvin (Pacific Palisades, Calif.) continued sharing setting duties, with Bruneau dishing out 23 assists and Irvin distributing 13.
Dickson led all players with a career-high three aces.
For Georgia Tech, Talisa Kellogg led the way with 11 kills and 15 digs. Callie Miller knocked down 12 kills and collected a match-high nine blocks. Michelle Kandell led all players with 28 digs, while Mary Ashley Tippins handed out 60 assist and collected 14 digs.
The Yellow Jackets came out strong in the beginning of the first set, leading the Cavaliers 10-5 before Virginia went on a 6-1 run to tie the score at 12. A series of strong offensive plays brought Georgia Tech the lead and allowed them to capture a 25-20 victory over the Cavaliers.
Despite being down 18-11 in the second series, the Cavaliers rallied for a 13-6 run before back-to-back blocks by first-year Hillary Trebels (Arlington Heights, Ill.) and Bruneau gave Virginia its first lead of the set, 25-24. Georgia Tech evened the score at 25 and again at 26 before taking a set point opportunity off a kill from Kellogg. An attack error and a service ace reversed the set point opportunity to the Cavaliers, before Asque clinched the stanza for Virginia, at 29-27.
The Cavaliers trailed Georgia Tech in the beginning of the third series before a 5-0 run by Virginia evened the score at 13 all. The Yellow Jackets answered with a kill and then back-to-back aces, before a block extended their lead back to four, forcing Virginia to call a timeout. However, a kill from Hill and back-to-back kills by Dickson gave the Cavaliers a 4-0 run bringing the score to 20-22. The Cavaliers evened the score at 23 before two consecutive kills secured the win for the Yellow Jackets at 25-23.
After nine tied scores to open the fourth frame the Jackets used an 8-2 run to take the lead at 20-14. Virginia responded with four consecutive kills creating a 5-1 run of their own and forced Georgia Tech to call a timeout. The Yellow Jackets rallied back with three final kills to finish the match with the win 25-21.
Virginia will return to action tomorrow evening, playing host to defending ACC Champion Clemson at 7 p.m. The match will be broadcast on demand on ACC Select. Livestats can be found on VirginiaSports.com.