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CORAL GABLES, Fla. – The Virginia volleyball team dropped its first Atlantic Coast Conference match of the season, falling 3-1 (22-25, 25-18, 21-25, 21-25) to Miami on Friday evening. The loss drops the Cavaliers to 6-7 on the season and 1-1 in the league, while Miami improves to 8-4 this year and 1-1 in the ACC.

Sophomore Simone Asque led the Cavaliers with 16 kills and three aces, while junior Sydney Hill knocked down a season-high 10 kills to go with four blocks. Junior AJ Cushman led the defense with 19 digs, while senior Lauren Dickson collected 16 defensive safes and landed nine kill.

Freshman Rachel Gray dished out 40 assists and junior Kendahl Voelker contributed a season-best nine kills.

For Miami, Lane Carico paced the attack with a match-high 21 kills while collecting 17 digs. Nrithya Sundararman also collected a double-double, dishing out 49 assists and picking up 14 digs. Cassie Loessberg had a match-high 27 digs.

With the score tied at 13 all in the opening frame, Carico landed back-to-back kills to push the Hurricanes ahead two and the Cavaliers were unable to recover. Virginia managed to keep the score tight, but a five-point run in favor of Miami put the home team up 21-16, enabling the Hurricanes to cruise to a 25-22 win.

Virginia used a 9-1 run in the second set to break open an even 7-7 contest, pulling ahead 16-8. The Cavaliers finished the set scoring six of the final 10 points to capture a 25-18 victory.

The run in the third game belonged to Miami as the Hurricanes strung together seven-straight points midway through the frame to take control of a 10-10 score. Virginia responded with a 6-2 run, cutting Miami’s lead to three at 19-16, but it wasn’t enough as the Hurricanes went on to win 25-21.

Miami used six-straight points early in the fourth frame to pull ahead of the Cavaliers, 9-2. The Hurricanes held on to their advantage until Virginia broke out on a 7-1 run to cut Miami’s lead to two, at 17-15. Miami took advantage of back-to-back errors by the Cavaliers to pull ahead 23-19 and after a Virginia timeout, the Cavaliers rallied for two-straight points, but Miami finished the set with a 25-21 win.

Virginia will look to rebound on Sunday as they face No. 18 Florida State at noon.

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