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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. The Virginia volleyball team rallied late in the match to come-from-behind and defeat the University of North Carolina, 3-2 (29-27, 25-17, 22-25, 25-23, 15-12), in the Dean Smith Center Friday evening to keep its conference win streak alive. With the win, the Cavaliers have won three straight Atlantic Coast Conference matches and improve to 3-3 in the league and 11-7 overall. The loss drops the Tar Heels to 9-8 on the season and 3-3 in the ACC.
“It was a great come from behind win,” head coach Lee Maes said. “We want to be able to take advantage of the momentum that we had from last week and this win certainly, on the road, gives us confidence that we can be competitive and successful against any team in the conference. Today’s win reflected our preparation throughout the week and the difference in the match tonight was our blocking.”
The Cavaliers, led by fourth-year Shannon Davis (Austin, Texas), out-blocked the Tar Heels 18-4. Davis, who blocked 10 attacks in the 2006 match at North Carolina, tied her career-high with another 10 blocks tonight.
Fifth-year Beth Shelton (Cincinnati, Ohio) landed her second double-double of the season to lead the Cavaliers, knocking down a team-high 15 kills to go with 13 digs. Third-year Lauren Dickson (Austin, Texas) narrowly missed her fifth-consecutive double-double, knocking down nine kills, while collecting 16 digs.
Third-year Brittani Rendina (Lisle, Ill.) led all Cavaliers in digs, collecting 28, while second-year A.J. Cushman (Richmond, Va.) dug 11.
Classmate Marlow Bruneau (Lakeville, Minn.) contributed a season-high nine blocks and 22 assists, while second-year Kelly Irvin distributed 18 assists and had nine digs.
Second-year Sydney Hill (Kalamazoo, Mich.) had seven blocks and second-year Kendahl Voelker (Fort Myers, Fla.) blocked five.
A slow start plagued the Cavaliers in the beginning of the opening set, but a 7-1 run evened the score at 16 all, forcing the Tar Heels to use at timeout. A kill from Voelker out of the break gave Virginia its first lead of the contest, at 17-16.
The score was again evened at 17 due to a Cavalier service error, and remained even until 27-27, as neither team could win two-consecutive points. Dickson knocked down a kill to give the Cavaliers their third set-point opportunity at 28-27 and Dickson and Hill combined for a block to secure to win for Virginia, at 29-27.
The Cavaliers carried the momentum into the second frame, jumping out to a 4-1 advantage, but that would be the largest lead Virginia would hold as the Tar Heels rallied to knot the score at 5-5 and then again for five-straight points to gather a 13-8 advantage.
A 6-1 run in favor of UNC pushed the Tar Heels ahead 20-12 providing a deficit that was too large for the Cavaliers to overcome. The two squads traded serves, giving North Carolina a 25-17 set win to even the match at 1-1.
Virginia fell behind early in the third game, 13-7, before rallying an 8-2 run to knot the score at 15-15. From there, the set remained even until a ball handling error on the Cavaliers put Carolina up 23-22. Virginia was unable to even the score at 23, as a kill from the Tar Heels gave UNC a set-point opportunity. A second kill from the Heels put them ahead in the match, 2-1, with a 25-22 win.
For the fourth straight set, the Tar Heels were the first to reach 15 points, leading the Cavaliers by 15-11 at the mark. North Carolina maintained the edge but were unable to fight off a last-second rally from Virginia, as the Cavaliers fought for a five-point run to take their first lead of the set, 23-22. The Tar Heels halted the streak with a kill to make it 23-23, but a kill from Shelton and a block from Davis and Bruneau forced a deciding game.
The Cavaliers jumped out to an early lead in the fifth frame and despite allowing the Tar Heels to even the score at 10, and again at 11 and 12, a block from Bruneau and Davis pushed Virginia ahead, 13-12. A kill from Hill put the Cavaliers in a match-point situation, and Bruneau and Hill capitalized on the opportunity, blocking an attack to secure the match win for Virginia, 15-12.
Virginia will return to action tomorrow, traveling to Raleigh, N.C., for a match against NC State. Opening serve is slated for 6 p.m.